USA Today on 'sucks '

[Gadi Niram]

Douglas G. Wilson said:
>
> I have heard "eats" used in more-or-less this way, with no explicit
> object, as early as 1967 or 1968, e.g., "This really eats"
> (= "... sucks" = "... blows" = "... bites"). I don't think "John
> eats" works because it sounds habitual and everybody would admit to
> habitually eating (not everyone would admit to habitually blowing or
> sucking, maybe).

I remember some years ago David Letterman talking about an earlier show
that hadn't gone well, and saying roughly "If you do enough shows, some of
them are going to suck, eat, or blow."  I have the image in my mind of him
counting off each of the three words on his fingers for emphasis.

--
Gadi Niram
gadi at maniagrid.com