Jesse Sheidlower - The F-Word

EDITED BY JESSE SHEIDLOWER

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Copyright 2009 by Oxford University Press

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First published in 1995 by Random House

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The F-word / edited by Jesse Sheidlower. -- 3rd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-19-539311-8
1. Fuck (The English word) 2. English language--Semantics.
3. English language--Etymology. 4. English language--Obscene words.
I. Sheidlower, Jesse.
PE1599.F83F2 2009
422--dc22

2009018730

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

Tis needful that the most immodest word
Be looked upon and learned
Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II

It is an honor and a privilege to be asked by the esteemed Oxford University Press to write the introduction to this wondrous book about the most important and powerful word in the English language. This is like a dream come true. A scholarly publisher of worldwide prestige has blessed this most sacred, most descriptive, most moving of all words.

Fuck is a sacred word? you ask.

Fucking A right it is. It is a word that one should not utter because it is such a terrible word of epic proportions, a word whose mere utterance is a sin. A fucking sin, can you imagine? Thats how fucking important fuck is.

And because its a sin, using it is so enticing to the young that when they hear it for the first time they are spellbound. And when they use it for the first time, that F and the U bang so deliciously against the hard K, ripping through the lips, its as if a caged animal has been unleashed. They feel that they have taken that first mighty step toward adulthood. Some of them may even repeat it over and over, testing to see if God will strike them down for saying it. Its a word you dont use in polite conversation or in front of your parents, which makes it even more glorious when chewed on and spit out in the schoolyard or in the bowels of the basement.

I cant remember the first time I actually used the word myself, but I remember the feeling I had. I am convinced it is akin to a newly converted Christian when he cries out his first hallelujah. What bliss! What joy! What freedom!

Fuck, I believe, is one of the few words in the English language with true medicinal qualities. It clears our heads of the cobwebs that our bosses, our politicians, and our pundits seem to spin with their tired words and useless clichs. I am certainly no doctor, but I believe that judicious use of the word in times of extreme stress or irritation can work wonders for your colon, blood pressure, and central nervous system. It even works as an antidepressant. The word is so efficient, its like a miracle drug. One quick guttural expulsion is all you need (or sometimes two or three if things are really bad).

If this power isnt enough to make fuck the languages best word ever, remember there is no other word that is so spectacularly utilitarian. Fuck can work as a noun, a verb, an adverb, an adjective. And for many of usand you New Yorkers know who you are fuck isnt even a word, its a comma. It can be placed at the end of a sentence to add emphasis to an idea. It can go at the end of a word to give it more punch. It even can be put in the middle of an existing word, giving it extra authority and impact. Its an unbe-fucking-lievable word. Its gifts are too numerous to mention.

Now I must leave you as you enter the world that is Fuck.

You are fucking lucky to be here.

Its almost utopian.

Lewis Black, New York, March 12, 2009

The word fuck definitely did not originate as an acronym, as many people think. Acronyms are extremely rare before the 1930s, and etymologies of this sortespecially for older wordsare almost always false. (The word posh does not come from Port Outward, Starboard Home, cop is not from Constable On Patrol, and tip is not from To Insure Promptness.) To this editors knowledge, the earliest suggestion of an acronymic etymology for fuck appears to be in the New York underground newspaper The East Village Other, on February 15, 1967: Its not commonly known that the word fuck originated as a medical diagnostic notation on the documents of soldiers in the British Imperial Army. When a soldier reported sick and was found to have V.D., the abbreviation F.U.C.K. was stamped on his documents. It was short for Found Under Carnal Knowledge. The more usual variant along these lines is For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, abbreviated to fuck and allegedly worn on a badge by convicted adulterers, rapists, or prostitutes in some mythical Olden Tymes; other variants include Found in Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (specifically for adulterers) and Forced Unsolicited Carnal Knowledge (for rapists).

The other common acronym is Fornication Under Consent of the King, said to have been some form of license granted by a monarch, often specifically to repopulate the country after a plague. This variant is first found in 1970, in the May issue of Playboy: My friend claims that the word fuck originated in the 15th Century, when a married couple needed permission from the king to procreate. Hence, Fornication Under Consent of the King. I maintain that its an acronym of a law term used in the 1500s that referred to rape as Forced Unnatural Carnal Knowledge.

In reality, fuck is a word of Germanic origin. It is related to words in several other Germanic languages, such as Dutch, German, and Swedish, that have sexual meanings as well as meanings such as to strike or to move back and forth. Ultimately these words represent a family of loosely related verbs having the structural form f + a short vowel + a stop (a consonant such as k, d, g, or t, in which the flow of air from the mouth is briefly interrupted), often with an l or r somewhere in between. These words have the basic meaning to move back and forth, and often the figurative sense to cheat. English examples of this familyall found later than fuckare fiddle, fidget, flit, flip, flicker, and frig.

The English word was probably borrowed in the fifteenth century from Low German, Flemish, or Dutch, though the word is found earlier in English than its equivalents in these languages. There is no way to know for sure which language is the ultimate source.