Big F-word Breakthrough...

[Jonathan Lighter]

Constant readers will recall my posting, nearly a year ago, of a putative, dramatically early example of "fucked up" in American speech.

  I'm pleased to report first, that Jesse's minions at OED Central have looked into the report and, second, have found the citation to be almost perfectly accurate - as I'm sure we all hoped. The only qualifications to Thomas Sullivan's printed version is that the quote appears in National Archives Record Group 125 rather than "45" as Sullivan indicated. Sullivan also normalized the capitalization practice of the stenographer.

  Here is the complete citation and quote:

  1863 _Rec. Gen. Courts Martial & Courts of Inquiry of Navy Department
1799-1867_  Vol. 106 Case 3401 18 Nov. [3] : His name being called the
third time, he stepped to the front of his tent, with a knapsack in
his hand, and in a loud voice said, 'What the bloody hell is wanted
now, this is a fucked up Company anyhow, and always has been since the
Guard came on shore, to hell with such a Company, and all connected
with such a damned Concern'.

  My thanks to Jesse for forwarding this info to me, apparently the moment it crossed his desk, and thanks to the underpaid OED hero quote-checker known only as "JRS"  for successfully chasing the cite down. JRS reports that the court stenographer's handwriting is clear and the words are unmistakable.

Thomas Sullivan, who unearthed the quote, is not a linguist or lexicographer, but he obviously recognized the cite as significant We need more historians like him!

  The quote appears in Sullivan's four-volume work, _The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War_ (Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane, 1997-2000), Vol.III, p. 267.

  JL



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