Re: USA Today on "sucks "

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/30/05 12:10:07 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> 
> While I agree with Ron's point here, and with his article (which I
> include in course packets), I would still suggest one quasi-answer to
> the last quasi-rhetorical (indirect) question above.  Don't most of
> those other expressions, including pejorative ones, involve
> *transitive* occurrences of the verb "suck" (e.g. the much-cited
> "sucks eggs", "suck the hind teat", "suck wind", "suck (one's)
> thumb")?  The intransitive or absolute occurrence, on the other hand,
> occurs largely in two constructions: in the "Yankees suck" form (or
> "Harvard sucks", as it's often pronounced around here) and in "X
> sucks" as a dispositional predication approximately equivalent to "X
> is {disposed/known} to perform oral sex [on some male/any male]".  If
> this observation is right, it would go some toward explaining why, as
> Ron points out, "a lot of people will associate SUCK with fellatio"
> even if this is unfaithful to the actual etymological record.
> 

I think this is right on the mark. Thanks, Larry. There is nothing inherently 
sexual about "blows," either--or "swallow," yet their use intranstively, 
especially in the right context, can trigger sexual interpretations, as in the 
infamous Duke tee shirt that says, on the front, "State sucks," and on the back, 
"Carolina swallows."