F*** with = have sex with?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 04:49:32PM -0800, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>
> with singular subjects, things are more complicated, and i'm aware
> that there is variation.  for me, the intransitive subject can refer
> to the receptor in fucking, especially in generic sentences -- "Kim
> fucks like a mink" 'Kim freely and enthusiastically offers herself/
> himself for fucking' (an example uttered to me some years ago, though
> i have  changed the (female) name in question)

Don't forget that great classic, "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)",
the 1983 song by WASP (i.e. "We Are Sexually Perverted").

Here's a good example of this without similative use, and with
explicit discussion of meaning, and from a Nobel laureate, no
less:

1984 H. Pinter _One for the Road_ in _Other Places: Four
Plays_ (1984) 51 Talking about sexual intercourse...(_He
laughs wildly, stops.) Doe she...fuck? Or does she...? Or does
she...like...you know...what? [...] Does she fuck! (_He
laughs._) It's ambiguous, of course, It could mean she fucks
like a rabbit or she fucks not at all. [non-bracketed
ellipses in orig.]

> less easy for me to get, but still possible with contextualization,
> is the intransitive subject referring to the insertor.  again,
> generics are, i think, easier: "Tom fucks like a pile-driver".
> still,  event descriptions are possible ("Tom fucked for hours"), and
> the other participant can be specified in a comitative PP ("Tom
> fucked with Kim for hours").  or, of course, by a direct object, in a
> transitive clause: "Tom fucked Kim for hours").

A few print examples to illustrate these:

2004 D. Cage _On Our Backs Guide to Lesbian Sex_ 297 Rocco is the
opposite of cool; he fucks like he's deranged, completely engaged
with his raunchy, perverse thrills.

1997 D. Wakefield _Going all the Way_ 149 It surprised and
depressed the hell out of him when after he fucked for the
very first time.

2005 C. N. Kendall _Gay Male Pornography_ 62 He fucked for what
seemed like hours.

Man, this is so much better than revising entries for early
nineteenth century legal terms.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED