[Ads-l] An early F-word euphemism?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I agree. "F-d" wouldn't even make much sense here. The dust looks battered?
Interfered with? Bungled? Stupid?  Seems like a strange comment in any case.

I also think that if someone wanted to write the f-word in a personal diary
at that time, they'd be likely either to write it out or use a simple
"--------."


JL




On Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 8:58 AM Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> On 9/21/24 00:03, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > Date:    Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:54:40 +0000
> > From:    Bill Mullins<amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: An early F-word euphemism?
> >
> > My son is a history buff, so while taking him from a doctor's
> appointment to his school today we were listening to the podcast "History
> That Doesn't Suck", regarding the Mexican-American war.  In preparation for
> what became the Battle of El Brazito, one of the officers sees a dust cloud
> and, fearing it is the approach of enemy troops, says "That looks
> forked!".  The podcaster says that in modern slang, he means that "We're
> totally [bleeped]" (the podcast seems to be targeted for a lay audience,
> and the language is no worse than PG).
> >
> > There's a bibliography for the podcast online, and the source is
> > Woodworth, Steven E. Manifest Destinies: America’s Westward Expansion
> and the Road to the Civil War,
> > which says "by which he meant it appeared dangerous."
> >
> > Woodworth's original source is a contemporary journal by one of the
> troops:
> >
> > 1847 Journal of Marcellus Ball Edwards, manuscript reprinted in Ralph P.
> Bieber, Marching with the Army of the West 1846-1848 (1936) 229
> >
> > [describing events before the Battle of El Brazito, Mexican-American
> War, 25 Dec 1846]
> >
> > So Colonel Doniphan and staff, each personifying one of the guard, sat
> down at a game of loo to determine who should be the owner of the horse.
> Some one, seeing a dust rising below, pointed it out to the colonel. He
> looked up and said, “That does look rather suspicious,” but threw down a
> card and said, “Play to that and that,” until he had finished his hand. And
> then [he] got up and took another look at the dust, and turning to his
> staff said, “By God, that looks forked! Come, mount your horses and be off
> to see what causes it,” and at the same time directed that the men should
> be formed on foot in case it should prove to be a Mexican army.
> >
> >
> https://archive.org/details/marchingwitharmy0000ralp/page/229/mode/1up?q=forked
> >
> > I'm inclined to believe that Col Doniphan either said "That looks f-d"
> and it was bowdlerized in the soldier's journal, or he said "forked" but
> meant it as a euphemism.
>
> I'm disinclined to read it that way. I'm inclined to read it literally:
> He's seeing that the dust cloud has split, suggesting a group of humans
> dividing their forces instead of a herd of animals traveling together. I
> think there's less likelihood of use of a euphemism either in in-group
> speech or in a journaling context.
>
> ---Amy West
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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