[Ads-l] to fuck

[Ben Zimmer]

It should be noted that "fuck" is following a pattern of intransitive verbs
evidently modeled on "rock" -- see OED3 sense 10b for "rock, v.1" ("Of
popular music: to possess a fast, vigorous rhythm with a strong beat; to
exhibit the energy and drive characteristic of such music") and 10d ("To be
full of energy, life, and excitement; to be excellent"). Other forceful
verbs that fit the pattern these days are "bang," "slap," "whip," and
"kick" -- you can find many examples of the form "This/that song slaps."
("Whip/kick" could be thought of as short for "whip/kick ass.")

Searching on Twitter readily uncovers many creative variations on the
theme, e.g. this tweet from today:

https://twitter.com/jeanlucpeakhard/status/1348748442865074181
i got no real opinion on lana del rey cause, i mean i'm not a gay guy, but
"video games" fucks. that song GETS laid. that's all i got.

--bgz

On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 12:10 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Just remember it took only 1,500 years for English to get this far!
>
> Think of the next 1,500!
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 11:48 AM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > So we have the antonymy between intransitive “fuck” and intransitive
> > “suck” (on the relevant figurative senses) and the antilogy/enantionymy
> of
> > “fuck” itself, between the pejorative transitive imperative (“Fuck that
> > song!”) and the ameliorative intransitive (“That song fucks!”).  Is this
> a
> > great language or what.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > > On Jan 11, 2021, at 3:33 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > A quick Twitter search reveals countless examples of "this/that song
> > fucks
> > > (so hard)." Earliest I see is from 2013:
> > >
> > > https://twitter.com/_TheLeader/status/366810062347452416
> > > @LadyGaga that song is so fucking awesome, pounding beats, this song
> > fucks
> > > so hard!
> > > 2:35 AM · Aug 12, 2013
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 2:44 AM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> How reliable is a sole example from a humorous program?
> > >>
> > >> MAM
> > >>
> > >> On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 7:50 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> 'To be very pleasing.'  Ant.: suck.
> > >>>
> > >>> 2020 _Last Week Tonight_ (HBO TV) (March 1): That song fucks! That
> song
> > >>> fucks so hard!
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org