The History of the Curse Words, I: The 'F' Bomb
Horrible People is back from winter break. Let's get right to it:
Fuck.
It's odd, seeing it written, isn't it? Just sitting there. We say it all the time but we rarely solidify it with ink and paper. In fact, it didn't appear in the Oxford Dictionary until 1972. Fuckin' weird. But it's use was widespread long before that such as in the 1928 novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D. H. Lawrence or the 1938 Louis Armstrong "Ol' Man Mose."
But where did it come from? Well, let's find the fuck out.
Legend has is that the word 'fuck' came from Irish law. If a couple were caught committing adultery they would be punished "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge In the Nude," with "FUCKIN" written on the stockades above them to denote the crime.
Other explanations for fuck as an acronym:
"Fornication Under Carnal/Cardinal Knowledge"
"Fornication Under Consent of the King"
"Fornication Under the Christian King"
"False Use of Carnal Knowledge"
"Felonious Use of Carnal Knowledge"
"Felonious Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"
"Full-On Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"
"Found Under Carnal Knowledge"
"Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (a label supposedly applied to the crime of rape)
That's a lot of fucking.
But is it true? Probably not. The most likely origin is probably where most curse words and slurs come from: mistransliterations. In this case, from Latin to English.
The first known occurance of the word is in a coded poem titled "Flen Flyys." One line in the poem reads (when decoded), "non sunt in coeli, quia fvccant vvivys of heli," which means, "they are not in heaven because they fuck the wives of Ely." Ooooh, I'm pretty sure someone just got served just there.
The 'fvccant' is a fake Latin form, hence the need for the poem to be coded. Think of it as Medieval backwards record spinning combined with East Coast-West Coast rage, subtract a half millenia and you get this. Booooring.
I like the acronyms better, so the Fact Users Can Kiss it.
Fucki? Nevermind.
Fuck.
It's odd, seeing it written, isn't it? Just sitting there. We say it all the time but we rarely solidify it with ink and paper. In fact, it didn't appear in the Oxford Dictionary until 1972. Fuckin' weird. But it's use was widespread long before that such as in the 1928 novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D. H. Lawrence or the 1938 Louis Armstrong "Ol' Man Mose."
But where did it come from? Well, let's find the fuck out.
Legend has is that the word 'fuck' came from Irish law. If a couple were caught committing adultery they would be punished "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge In the Nude," with "FUCKIN" written on the stockades above them to denote the crime.
Other explanations for fuck as an acronym:
"Fornication Under Carnal/Cardinal Knowledge"
"Fornication Under Consent of the King"
"Fornication Under the Christian King"
"False Use of Carnal Knowledge"
"Felonious Use of Carnal Knowledge"
"Felonious Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"
"Full-On Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"
"Found Under Carnal Knowledge"
"Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (a label supposedly applied to the crime of rape)
That's a lot of fucking.
But is it true? Probably not. The most likely origin is probably where most curse words and slurs come from: mistransliterations. In this case, from Latin to English.
The first known occurance of the word is in a coded poem titled "Flen Flyys." One line in the poem reads (when decoded), "non sunt in coeli, quia fvccant vvivys of heli," which means, "they are not in heaven because they fuck the wives of Ely." Ooooh, I'm pretty sure someone just got served just there.
The 'fvccant' is a fake Latin form, hence the need for the poem to be coded. Think of it as Medieval backwards record spinning combined with East Coast-West Coast rage, subtract a half millenia and you get this. Booooring.
I like the acronyms better, so the Fact Users Can Kiss it.
Fucki? Nevermind.
reubs wrote this piece of shit at 5:58 PM
5 smart ass remarks
