Jesse Sheidlower on Morning Edition

[James Smith]

Pinker must be really old!  I'm 62.  I don't recall
using the word "suck" as an expletive when I was
young, or even when I went through an expansive
cursing and swearing period at 16-17.  I think I
started using it in my late teens to early twenties
and continue to use it, and although I have considered
the possible connection, "suck" as an expletive does
not have and never has had a sexual connotation for
me.  I hear it used commonly by contemporaries, and
I'm sure for most of them there is no sexual
association intended.

> ------------
> "When I was a kid and you said something sucks,"
> says Pinker, "it was
> pretty=
> clear what sexual act they were referring back to."
> But today kids have no
> idea. The term is just part of their common
> language.
>  Perception Is Everything
>  Frequent use, over time, has stripped away the
> original connotation.
> Pinker=


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


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