In defense of the word, "sucks."

[JT]

From Slate.

Are you offended by the word sucks? Do you loathe the way it's crept into everyday conversation? Are you shocked that preteen children and primetime television shows blithely employ a vivid slang term for oral sex? Do you wish sucks would just fade away, like other faddish colloquialisms that were eventually discarded?

Well, sucks to be you.

I thought the word nerds among us would enjoy this article, which discussed the evolution of the word, 'suck', from its roots as a term for fellatio to its current meaning as a descriptor of something awful.

The paragraph discussing using Germanic words for emotion and French words for lofty speech reminded me of something said around here (maybe JB's blog?).

[Porter]

Even though I use it fairly frequently, this word will always contain a tinge of vulgar for me, since in my understanding it started out meaning oral sex and and later took on less sexual definitinos.

 

[Jonathon]

I was reading that article just before you posted the link, JT. I have to say that I agree with it; just because a word has vulgar origins doesn't mean that it still is vulgar.

[Porter]

I was reading that article just before you posted the link, JT. I have to say that I agree with it; just because a word has vulgar origins doesn't mean that it still is vulgar.

I agree in general, but since it started out with vulgar meanings for me I think it will.

My children, on the other hand, will not be burdened like that.

[Jonathon]

Good point, and that's something the article doesn't address well. The author says that those who find sucks vulgar are obsessing over its origins, but I don't think this is really true. After all, most people don't really think about word origins that much—but they do often think about how words were used when they were growing up. And for many people, it wasn't very long ago that sucks was pretty vulgar.

[Porter]

IIUC, the word "dork" started out as an alternative form of the word "dick".  But this word doesn't seem vulgar to me because it was already firmly a part of my vocabulary when I learned its origins.

Similiarly, the word "gosh" never bothered me despite it being a stand-in for profanity, while the word "jeesh" does.  Why?  Because I learned the origin of the word "jeesh" relatively early.

[Sheila]

Man, this is killing my interest in learning the origins of words. It would totally suck to have that sort of baggage associated with a word.

[Porter]

Unless you merely made that post so that you could use the word suck, I think you're missing the point.

Learning the origins of words I already use hasn't created baggege for me.  

[JT]

I was making that argument about word meanings changing through common use just a few weeks ago.  I wish I'd have thought of 'suck' as an example; it's a much better one than the one I was using (which was 'pimp' for teenagers, which no longer means a man who runs prostitutes).

I was also making the same argument against the use of "African-American" to be PC.  

[Sheila]

Unless you merely made that post so that you could use the word suck, I think you're missing the point.

 

Of course I was doing it to be funny.

<--When I make this face, it's a joke.

[Primal Curve]

"African-American" to be PC.

I'm a brother?

[pooka]

Learning the origins of words I already use hasn't created baggege for me.

That's because you didn't, as an adolescent, use the word "dildo" in place of the word "dork".  

I don't know where I got it from, but it was my favorite word for a few months, and then I found out what it meant.

But I suppose definition is different from origin.  

[skillery]

Does this mean I can't say "douche bag" anymore?

[Porter]

I don't know if you can say it, but you can apparently still write it.

[/hyperliteral]

[Jonathon]

But douche just comes from the French word for "shower," so that makes it okay, right?

[Porter]

But douche just comes from the French word for "shower," so that makes it okay, right?

Absolutely not!

*scandalized*