F**king-A

[Sam Clements]

It has been suggested to me that the "A" could have come from "affirmative"
in the sense that the military usage of "affirmative" to mean "yes" or "you
are correct" might have been been the inspiration.  "Fucking Affirmative,
Sir!" shortened to "Fuckin'-A."

Was "affirmative" a well-used military word in WWII and before?

Sam Clements
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: F**king-A


> There are various stories about the "A". "Aye" has somewhat the right
sense
> but I find it phonetically unlikely (perhaps a case could be made for a
> variant of the "ayup" Stephen-King type?). "All-right", "A-one", etc.,
> don't have the usual sense, which I believe is or was basically "f*cking
A"
> = "[that's] right" (NOT "that's great" or so). "Arsehole" etc. would be
> just nonsense (not necessarily impossible though!).
>
> My own conjecture is that the "A" was originally "amen" ... *possibly*
with
> "F*cking amen!" = "Amen" [intensified]/"That's right"/"I agree" reanalyzed
> as "F*cking A, men!" (in a military setting) or "F*cking A, man!" by
(maybe
> less religiously inclined?) listeners. This conjecture may not be
provable,
> but it seems to me so natural that I presume somebody has presented it
> before (but I haven't seen it AFAIK).
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>