The F-Word (30 page)

a
1950
E. Partridge
Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English
(ed. 3) 1054:
F*cked!, go and get
.… mid C.19-20.
1966
E. Shepard
Doom Pussy
151: We told him to go ahead and ask. And he did. And
we
say, “Get f—.”
1968
L. J. Davis
Whence All Had Fled
218: “Get fucked,” he said.
1986
D. Dye & O. Stone
Platoon
16: Tell that dipshit to get fucked.
a
1990
C. T. Westcott
Half a Klick from Home
125: Tell him ta get fucked with a mule’s dick, I don’t care.

go fuck [yourself]
(used to express hostility or contempt); go to hell! get out! be damned! Also variants with other objects, especially
go fuck your mother
. [
Go fuck your mother
is generally perceived as the most offensive and provocative curse in English; cf.
MOTHERFUCKER
.]

[
1879
Pearl
210: He’d been told,/To bloody well bugger himself.]
1895
Report of the Senate Committee on the Police Dept. of N.Y.
III. 3158: By Senator Bradley: Q. Repeat what he said to you? A. He said, “Go on, fuck yourself, you son-of-a-bitch; I will give you a hundred dollars”; he tried to punch me, and I went out. [
1905
W. S. Kelly
Lariats
273: If yer don’t like ’em, go and puke yourselfs.]
1920
in J. Dos Passos
14th Chronicle
306: As for an intellectual class it can go f— itself.
1922
T. E. Lawrence
The Mint
(1955) 99: “Go and fuck rattlesnakes,” retorted Garner.
1926
F. Wray trans. H. Barbusse
Under Fire
243: Go and f— yourself.
1929
D. Marquis in G. Legman
No Laughing Matter
(1975) 149: Go fuck thy suffering self.
1931
J. Dos Passos
Nineteen Nineteen
150 [refers to WWI]: Joe got sore and told him to go f— himself.
1932
E. Hemingway
Winner
152: F— yourself. F— your mother. F— your sister.
1933
in H. Miller
Letters to Emil
(1989) 126: Tell her to go fuck herself.
1938
R. Chandler
Big Sleep
60: Go — yourself.
1942
in D. Schwartz
Journals
88: “Then go fuck yourself!” said May, hanging up, enraged.
1948
N. Mailer
Naked & Dead
12: Go fug yourself. [
1951
African Studies
X 32: “Copulate with your mother!” Normally no insult could be more frightful.]
1955
J. Sack
Here to Shimbashi
92: Sometimes they toss cigarettes to the MP’s on patrol, and sometimes they have been known to shout, “Hey, GI — your mother!” in English.
1959
New York City schoolboy, age 13: Aw, go fuck your mother in bed, you little prick!
1961
J. Baldwin
Another Country
34: Drop dead, get lost, go fuck yourself.
1961
R. Granat
Important Thing
80 [refers to WWII]: You just go f—.
1967
N. Mailer
Why We Are in Vietnam
94: Go fuck, D.J.’s got his purchase on the big thing.
1969
in M. Girodias
New Olympia Reader
68: She [was] screaming, “Go fuck your mother.” [
1976
C. Amuzie in
Journal of Black Studies
VI 416: Among the Igbos, one could hear male and very old female adults cursing [in Igbo] as follows: “fuck your mother,” “fuck your sister,” “may a dog fuck your mother.” These curses are perceived by the Igbos as among the worst.]
1976
J. Harrison
Farmer
28: Oh go fuck yourself.
1973–77
J. Jones
Whistle
320 [refers to WWII]: “Appreciate it.” “Go fuck.”
1977
Maledicta
(Summer) 12: Go fuck yourself with a rubber
weenie.
1980
E. Morgan
Surgeon
195: “Leah,” screamed the little girl. “Go fuck your cat, fuck your mother.” [
1985
J.M.G. Brown
Rice Paddy Grunt
122: The gook tells him, “
Du Mau, Du Mau
” (to fuck his mother, in Vietnamese).]
2004
Washington Post
(June 25) A4: A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney’s ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush’s judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice. “Fuck yourself,” said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick
and variants, (used to describe a sexually unappealing woman).

1968
G. Legman
Rationale of Dirty Joke
367: Compare the folk-phrase, “I wouldn’t fuck her with
your
prick.”
1979
L. Gonzales
Jambeaux
15: “I wouldn’t fuck her with
your
dick,” Link said. “You’d fuck anything that’s warm.” Page laughed.
1996
E. Leonard
Out of Sight
219: Man, I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick.
1998
J. Collins
Power
63: “You
gotta
be kidding? I wouldn’t fuck her with somebody else’s dick.” Trust Max to say exactly what everyone else was thinking. Angela looked like a heroin addict on the run.
2001
“L. Burana”
Strip City
132: A man is loudly mocking a dancer.… “I wouldn’t fuck her with somebody else’s dick!” he howls to his friends.
2003
W. Heffernan
Time Gone By
198: The broad’s a lush. I wouldn’t fuck her with
your
dick.

who do I (or you) have to fuck?
[in allusion to the alleged requirement of actresses to sleep with directors to get film roles] “what unpleasant thing do I have to do?”

1968
M. Crowley
Boys in the Band
48: Who do you have to fuck to get a drink around here?
1971
T. Southern
Blue Movie
13: Listen, who do I have to fuck to get
off
this picture?
1979
L. Gonzales
Jambeaux
14: Who do you have to fuck to get a transfer outta this chickenshit outfit?
1986
T. McNally
It’s Only a Play
34: Who do you have to fuck to get something to eat around here?
1993
S. Corbin
Fragments that Remain
264: Now I got plenty of cash money, and it’s all about, Who do I have to fuck to spend my money with them?
2004
N. Munk
Fools Rush In
v. 99: I leave a message that says, “Who do I have to fuck to get you people to do your job?”

fuck
interjection

1
. (used as an interjection to express dismay, disbelief, resignation, surprise, etc.); “shit”; “hell.” Compare
FUCK
,
verb
, definition 4.a.

1929
F. Manning
Middle Parts of Fortune
II. 161 [refers to WWI]: A man…uttered under his breath a monosyllabic curse. “Fuck.”
1934
“J.M. Hall”
Anecdota Americana
(Second series) 146: “Oh, fuck!” he cried in disgust.
1943
in M. Morriss & R. Day
South Pacific Diary
(1996) 196: I welcome the day when people say “fuck!” in polite and mixed company.
1945
in T. Shibutani
Derelicts of Company K
301: Fuck, we’re gonna be in the army for another year anyway.
1958
I. Fleming
Dr. No
(1960) xx. 148: “—,” said Bond, once. He got painfully out on to the side of the track.
1962
in B. Jackson
In the Life
157: I’m no gambler because if I tried to gamble, fuck, I’d lose my goddamned drawers.
1964–66
R. Stone
Hall of Mirrors
51: Fuck no, I ain’t stoppin’ you.
1973
P. Benchley
Jaws
194: “Fuck!” he said, and he threw the full can into the wastebasket.
1981
J. H. Stiehm
Bring Men & Women
263: One woman officer…told of stopping an activity because a frustrated woman had said, “Oh, fuck.”
1985
E. Leonard
Glitz
207: I thought, fuck, the guy’s a natural.
1987
P. D. Chinnery
Life on the Line
208: Brian…said, “Oh, f***.” Then he died.
1998
M. Waites
Little Triggers
iii. 23: She lit her cigarette and pulled a deep drag.… After holding on for a few seconds she let go. Her tension ebbed along with the smoke. “Fuck, I needed that.”
2002
M. Crichton
Prey
144: “I’m not sure we can just deny—” “Fuck yes, deny.”

2
. [reduction of
fucked
, past participle of
FUCK
,
verb
, definition 4] damned [if].

1967
N. Mailer
Why Are We In Vietnam?
x. 178: “Well, you ain’t no I.Q. competitor.” “Fuck, I ain’t. I compete you in anything.”
1978
A. Maupin
Tales of the City
18: Fuck if I know.
1983
W. D. Ehrhart
Vietnam to Perkasie
143: Fuck if I’m stickin’ around.
1984
W. D. Ehrhart
Marking Time
123: Fuck if I know.
1998
Daily Variety
(Apr. 23) A45: When was the moment we broke out? Fuck if I know, even I have a hard time dissecting that one.
2003
D. Lehane
Shutter Island
iii. 50: “Fuck if I know.”… “Quite similar to our clinical conclusion.”

3
. =
the fuck
, definition 2, under
FUCK
,
noun
. Also: (elliptical for) “what the fuck,” “who the fuck,” etc.

1983
S. King
Christine
147: “Turn out your pockets, Buddy.”…“Fuck I will.”
1989
B. M. Cooper & T. L. Wright
New Jack City
(film script) 30: Fuck is wrong with you?
1996
D. McCumber
Playing off Rail
272: “I don’t do that to you.” “Fuck you don’t.”
1999
J. Williams
Five Pubs, Two Bars & Nightclub
156: “Who you been talking to, Tone?” he asked now. “Kenny.” “Fuck you talking to Kenny for?”
2003
J. Lethem
Fortress of Solitude
i. iv. 60: Fuck you know about it, anyway?