more "X sucks"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Since I only encountered "It sucks!" after numerous "(Human male, esp. 'you
[male]') suck/s!" , it seemed to follow that even inanimate "sucks" had
sexual (albeit literally nonsensical) overtones. That's what made it
effective, scathing, and popular.

"You suck!" (aimed by a male at a male in the context of irate insult) was
unquestionably an imputation of homosexuality in 1964.  I never heard
anybody in those days say, with today's blah intonation, "That movie kind of
sucked," or "This sucks. Let's do something else."  I believe it was not
till ca1967-68 that I heard "[It] sucks!"

I can recall seeing those "Dracula Sucks" buttons in store windows around
Times Square  ca '68-'69, and probably "Nixon Sucks" as well.

I didn't hear imperative "Suck off!" in high school.  In fact, I didn't even
hear "Fuck off!" until 1974, though it had been used in Britain for decades.


JL


On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 5:16 PM, 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: more "X sucks"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Does the analysis distinguish among:
>
> "It (or some non-personal thing, like "my job") sucks" -- for which I
> receive no sexual or scatogical connotations.
>
> "He/she/someone sucks" -- for which I would normally have none of the
> above, unless context pointed to it.
>
> The imperative "Suck off" -- for which I perceive a sexual
> antecedent, but do not see as "go perform fellatio".
>
> Etc.?
>
> And I suppose that current meaning/association may have little
> relationship to origin?
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/21/2011 10:41 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >Following up on our latest round of "X sucks" exegesis...
> >
> >IT SUCKS
> >...
> >The Belly Button Company, 13 St. Marks Place, N.Y., N.Y. 10003
> >---
> >
> >Plain-old "it sucks" is notable here, as I believe this is the
> >earliest known example of that pithy formation. B... In the past
> >we've discussed the graffito "There is no
> >gravity. The universe sucks!", which Wilson recalls from 1960 and Ron
> >from 1968:
> >
> >http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0510C&L=ADS-L&P=R7202
>
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