"unsuck"

[Jonathan Lighter]

James Blake, in 1963, writes, "I wrote on the wall, 'Franz Kafka sucks.'"
(The Joint, p.337).

This is precisely the sort of graffiti I was talking about, from precisely
the same period.

Since it refers to the nonpresent, no longer living Kafka, it appears to be
the metaphorical sense. Since it's a graffito, it could equally be an
absurdist sexual statement.

The point is that the sexual and the disparaging are neither distinct or
readily separable.  Nor were they in my NYC high school in 1964. The
metaphorical sense  at that time was still less commonly used than "stink,"
at least by my classmates. In fact, the usual usage was "You suck!" followed
by some retort like, "Fuck you, asshole!"  I never saw fisticuffs result. We
were gentlemen, not louts.
JL

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 11:12 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "unsuck"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4/21/2011 09:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >How many believed the phrase was nonsexual when they first heard it?
>
> Me.
>
> >Very few, I would guess, unless they were sexually unsophisticated
> >at the time.
>
> Me.  :-)
>
> But seriously, I still take "it sucks" as nonsexual, albeit vulgar --
> "it (worse than) stinks".  Although I do not disclaim having
> recognized the sexual association and possible origin.  And is
> "1971    T. Mayer Weary Falcon 156   This fucking operation eats shit
> . It sucks." (the earliest I see in the OED for "it sucks") sexual,
> or "merely" scatological?
>
> Joel
>
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