Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Down memory lane with English language lessons - what's that word again? (Original Post) malaise Jun 2014 OP
Written examples here dipsydoodle Jun 2014 #1
Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahahaha malaise Jun 2014 #8
What I got from that is the word "Fuck" is at it root violent TexasProgresive Jun 2014 #2
The word 'strike' originally came from words meaning 'to rub, to smooth' and much later Bluenorthwest Jun 2014 #3
That's confused. Igel Jun 2014 #7
And testify meant you grabbed your balls and swore by them. hobbit709 Jun 2014 #4
I did not know that malaise Jun 2014 #9
This etymology is an urban legend. Jim Lane Jun 2014 #11
Then my old Latin teacher 50 years ago was wrong. hobbit709 Jun 2014 #12
And that it is also used to mean to cheat someone treestar Jun 2014 #5
All the misspellings in the clip offended me more than the word Fuck. valerief Jun 2014 #6
Ha malaise Jun 2014 #10
Somebody else posted a version of this nadinbrzezinski Jun 2014 #13

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
1. Written examples here
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 08:23 AM
Jun 2014

Last edited Sun Jun 22, 2014, 08:54 AM - Edit history (1)

http://justin.justnet.com.au/rudestuff/uses-of-the-word-fuck.html

Years ago when such lists were first compiled my favorites were Harold at the Battle of Hasting immediately prior to copping an arrow in the eye, "what the fuck was that" , and Custer at Little Big Horn saying "Holy cow - look at all those fucking........

TexasProgresive

(12,148 posts)
2. What I got from that is the word "Fuck" is at it root violent
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 08:24 AM
Jun 2014

What does it mean that a word that means to strike comes to mean coitus which is to come together? Since I abhor sexual violence I will abstain from using this word.

The funny thing is that it is so over used that it really doesn't mean anything. Some DUers sprinkle is so liberally in their posts that it's replacing the Valley girl, "like". My eyes just skip past it as if it isn't there because it generally doesn't make sense or add anything to the post. Perhaps it is a sign of weak vocabulary skills.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
3. The word 'strike' originally came from words meaning 'to rub, to smooth' and much later
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 09:51 AM
Jun 2014

came the meanings related to 'collision'. Our language comes from many sources and the word meanings transition over the years. Is it bad to stroke you pet or your lover? Is not the word 'stroke' related to 'strike'? Yes it is.
One also 'strikes a match' or 'goes on strike'. We 'strike it rich' and athletes 'strike out'.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=strike

Igel

(35,197 posts)
7. That's confused.
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 11:27 AM
Jun 2014

You've merged meanings and phonetic form and can't get them separated again.

It's unclear that "fuck" in 500 AD had the same meaning as "strike" in 2000 AD, but it if did that in no way means that the meaning 500 AD was the same as "strike" in 500 AD. '

"Pussy" comes from a borrowing from French, "pochette", that means "pocket" or "pouch." For a time it was a word for "purse." That in no way means that women tend to keep their keys and make up in their pussies, nor that it's rape if a man puts his cock in a woman's pocketbook.


Not that it matters. A word's history is unknown to speakers, by and large, and what it meant isn't necessarily what it means. Language isn't just a historical artefact, but a system whose usage also encodes current social values.

It's nice that linguists view it as a system of constraints or rules and associations that link meaning to phonetic form, and say how to encode other kinds of meaning in terms of sentence structure and from there in discourse structure. This is fin and dandy. But language also has levels of stylistic registers and geographical variation, all of which encode attitudes and social meanings, show how additional background information is assumed by the speaker, can be used to show insider and outsider status and so both cement and fracture a community.

An educated person, whether a griot or an Enlightenment scholar or Stephen Hawking has mastered a range of registers, including the one used for literature and polite discourse, and part of becoming "educated" in any field is to learn the appropriate register. "Fuck" originally just meant "have vaginal or anal sex with, said of a man" and was fairly neutral. When it became an intensifier it was low-class, uneducated, and has kept that status--if for no other reason that it's ambiguous and very much context bound, shows both solidarity with some and sharply excludes others. It used to show sharp shock or anger, but now it's just used to show, "Hey, I'm in *your* group and will use it to make sure that *those people* I don't like stay out." Group disdain is fairly common among kids. They see a system set up and assume that everybody that's bought into it started off that way. (They'd have profound disgust for griots and their language, as well, given American values.)

These things change, but just as it's unlikely that you'll see Obama give a speech talking about the ACA's covering "cunt cancer" during a State of the Union message any time soon, "fuck" isn't likely to change its stylistics much more any time soon. Of course, we do tend to say that it's really bad when we're offended and wonderful when others are offended--we're talking about power and oppression to some extent--so maybe we will see its stylistics change.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
5. And that it is also used to mean to cheat someone
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 09:56 AM
Jun 2014

or to condemn them in some way. I guess it goes back to the idea that a woman has been had if she has sex with a Don Juan - in Spanish the word he used was he "enjoyed" them and then the women were considered betrayed or used. So it is a male centered Don Juan type view of sex.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Down memory lane with En...