I was wondering how this phrase has become so widely used and accepted in common language.
Not only is it said without embarrassment in polite circles it is also used on the airwaves as if it were
Ah Shucks.
As an older person i have always assumed it derived from anti homosexual sentiments and was a manner
of saying something was as bad as someone who sucked a penis. Did i get this all wrong? and if so
why else would sucking be associated with something bad?
Since I can't really remember a time when, “that sucks,†wasn't in common use - at least among my general age group - it's never occurred to me to wonder about the original meaning. My favorite (and often used) variation is, “Sucks to be you!â€
Perhaps it has to do with being on the providing end, as opposed to the receiving end, of the service?
The sexual origin is not not the original meaning. An article about it from USA Today contains a quote that is spot-on: “The word sucks was an innocent word that developed a powerful and vulgar sexual connotation related to the taboo subject of fellatio.†A fairly informed conversation about it can be found here. Comments by Ben Zimmer are especially good.
I've also posted to our web site a copy of the Ron Butters article from the journal Dictionaries. “We didn't realize that lite beer was supposed to suck!â€: The Putative Vulgarity of “X sucks†in American English. The last page of the PDF is an article “Homophobia Sucks†written by someone under the pseudonym “Blanche Poubelle†in the Boston Guide.
as always, thanks for your insight. Though I must say ‘fellatio' is hardly an equivalent to the male homosexual behavior.
When i hear fellatio i assume it to be heterosexual and ok. Homosexuals 'suck' each other and that has traditionally not been ok at all and in fact quite a disgusting thought to many.
I can remember being editor of the school newspaper in 1969. The drama department was staging a version of Dracula. I wrote a headline: Dracula Sucks Tonight. Predictably, the headline was vetoed by the newspaper's faculty advisor.