fvck (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Baker, John]

        In light of the historical relationship between u and v, I'm not
sure that this qualifies as a euphemism, or as being in any sense a
different word from fuck. I suppose that, at best, it might be
considered a variant spelling (or, as Jesse more accurately puts it, a
graphical variation).

        Jesse's choices seem sound, although I think he could have gone
either way on including "give a XXXX" and excluding "fookin'."


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Jesse Sheidlower
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 3:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: fvck (UNCLASSIFIED)

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 02:12:47PM -0500, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Probably too late for the new edition of Jesse's "The F Word", but . .
.
>
> I just read somewhere that "fvck" is a common euphemism for "fuck" at
> MIT, likely resulting from the Latinate spelling on the neoclassical
> buildings.

I'm not sure I would include this. My tendency was not to include things
that were purely written euphemisms, with a few exceptions (I added an
entry for _fug_, though only cross-referencing to _fuck_; and I added an
entry for _give a XXXX_ (after a British beer advertisement) because it
struck me as being a different "word").

But I don't have separate entries for other things that are just
graphical variations, whether for purposes of humor ("fvck"), euphemism
("f--k"), or pronunciation ("fookin'").

Jesse Sheidlower
OED/The F-Word

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org