Re: Re: SUX

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

As Connie Eble points out in her book, it is rarely possible to point with 
certainty to one and only one origin for a slang term. The single-minded 
preoccupation that many people--especially straight people--have with fellatio is 
somewhat amusing.

I mention "your ass sucks wind" in my DICTIONARIES article, as a part of the 
pre-1960s constelation of sucky words. I never heard the "sissy-stick" 
continuation. My father used the shorter version (born in Iowa whatever year it was 
that the Titanic sank).

In a message dated 9/27/04 10:54:30 AM, preston at MSU.EDU writes:


> >OK, I'm old enough.
> 
> >I'm with Ron in this case (oh rarity!) in pointing to non-fellatio
> >pejorative "sucks", and not just those associated with "sucker,'
> >(i.e., one easily taken in).
> 
> One  such usage, which dates to my early sporting life (basketball,
> football, baseball - that kind of sporting life) had to do with the
> out-of-shape kid who was left behind sucking wind (or air), surely a
> non-sexual a reference to gasping and always clearly negative.
> 
> I suspect such usage may have given rise to some more etymologically
> mysterious expressions of my youth (e.g., "Your ass sucks wind" often
> with the elaborate addition of "through a sissy-stick") [NB: Us
> he-boys of the Louisville area has a grade-school usage of "sissy"
> which had no sexual overtones, though a deeper look at it would
> reveal homophobic undercurrents; a "sissy-stick," by the way, was a
> straw; something a girl would drink from; a real he-boy would swig
> soft drink out of a bottle, of course.]
> 
> On the other hand, I do not doubt at all the contamination of other
> pejorative "sucks:" with oral sex "sucks," but, like Ron, I think we
> should be careful of jumping to this conclusion.
> 
> dInIs
> 
> PS: I haven't said "Your ass sucks wind through a sissy stick for
> more than fifty years. Thanks for the opportunity to remember.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >I started this thread to dredge up evidence concerning the early
> >career of a now salient Americanism.  Are Wilson, Ron, and I really
> >the only ones aged enough to have something to contribute?
> >
> >That WOULD be scary.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society
> >Poster: RonButters at AOL.COM
> >Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20=A0=20=A0=20=A0=20Re:=20SUX?=
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >In a message dated 9/26/04 8:55:35 PM, wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM writes:
> >
> >
> >>  Even in the early to mid-90s when "suck"'s explosive force had been 
> greatly
> >>  weakened, some conservative parental groups objected to its occurrence 
> on TV
> >>  as just too vulgar for their homes. Members of these groups, I feel 
> certain,
> >>  were not thinking that it referred to "suckers," "sucker punches," 
> "sucking
> >>  hind tit," or anything so bland as that.
> >>
> >
> >Precisely. But this sort of retro-association is not evidence of ORIGIN, 
> any
> >more than any other folk etymology would be. Parents in general tend to 
> assume
> >the worst about the practices of the young, if only to protect their
> >offspring from any possible infelicity.
> >
> >Similarly, putative etymologies based on it-stands-to-reason logic and hazy
> >remembrances of what one's reactions may have been to "as-I-recall"
> >writings on
> >public toilet walls are interesting as expressions of opinion, but they 
> don't
> >really constitute scientific evidence, do they? The burden of proof, it 
> seems
> >to me, must lie with those who would dismiss any connection with the
> >pejorative uses of SUCK that were already in the language in favor
> >of assertions of an
> >exclusive connection with fellatio. I certainly admit that such evidence
> >might be hard to come by, given the taboo nature of the proposed
> >origin and the
> >difficulty of finding evidence for early uses of ANY slang term. But the 
> fact
> >that such evidence is not readily available is certainly not a valid reason 
> to
> >conclude that it certainly must exist.
> >
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> 
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>         Asian and African Languages
> Wells Hall A-740
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
> Office: (517) 353-0740
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
> 
>