Tom Mellish
OP Contributor

“The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free
of ulterior motives.” Erica Jong, Fear of
Flying (1973)

-
It is the middle finger that is the tip-off as
to the antiquity of the four-letter word.
Giving the middle finger dates from at
least 2,000 years ago. In Latin, the middle
digit was digitus infamis or digitus impu-
dicus, the “infamous or indecent finger.”
Literary references are quite clear (and
blunt) about the meaning of the “one-fin-
ger salute.” The digitus impudicus is men-
tioned several times in the literature of
ancient Rome. From the epigrammatist
Martial comes, “Laugh loudly, Sextillus,
when someone calls you a queen and put
your middle finger out.” The verse con-
tinues: “But you are no sodomite nor for-
nicator either, Sextillus, nor is Vetustina’s
hot mouth your fancy.”

In the other reference Martial writes
that a certain party “Points a finge
indecent one, at”
According to
writing ab

 
    
  

oped in conjuncti
the English word
word has come to be
ger. Incorrect folk e
word is an acronym meaning “For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,” supposedly
carved into stockades overhead people
who committed adultery. Another folk
etymology is “Fornication Under Consent
of the King,” permission given by the
monarch to copulate. Although fuck has
been around for centuries, possibly mil-
lennia, for a long period it fell out of gen-
eral use.

Before 1503, the vulgar word for sex
was to swive, from Old English swifan “to
move lightly over, sweep” (related to
swift), and the German ficken “make
quick movements to and fro, flick,” earli-
er “itch, scratch,” the vulgar sense attested
from 16th century. Its cognates—words
related to one in another language—in
other Northern European languages, are
the Middle Dutch fokken, meaning to
thrust, to copulate with; dialectical
Norwegian fukka meaning to copul:
and dialectical Swedish focka mea
strike, push, copulate, and fock ,
penis. French has a similar wo!
derived from the Latin futuo

The earliest known use of
Flen flyys, predates 1500
poem written in a mix

English.

m by the Scottish poet Willia
“Be his feiris he wald haue
” The earliest citing of the current
spelling i is from 1535. It was then record-
ed in John Florio’s dictionary A World of
Words in 1598. The etymologist Eric
Partridge said that the German word was
related to the Latin words for pugilist,
puncture, and prick. The word, which
entered English in the late 15th century,
became more rare in print in the 18th
century when it became a vulgar term,
and was eventually banned from the
Oxford English Dictionary.

Shakespeare, although he did not use it,
did hint at it for comic effect. In the
Merry Wives of Windsor he gives the pun
“focative case.” In Henry V, the character
Pistol threatens to “firk” a French soldier,
a word meaning “to strike,” but common-
ly used as an Elizabethan euphemism for
fuck. In the same play, Princess Katherine
confuses the English words “foot” and

   
   
  

“gown” for the French “foutre” with
comic results.

The phrase “four-letter word” dates
back to the late 1800s.

The taboo was so strong that f
years, from 1795 to 1965, fuel
appear in a single dic

English language. When

170

until recent times not
print but fre went in

Robert
eff’ and

abstitutes. In
é Naked and the
man Mailer to use
the light “fug.” Dorothy Parker,
critic, satirical poet, and short-story
writer, upon meeting Mailer, commented,
“So you're the man who can’t spell fuck.”

The liberal usage of vulgarisms by cer-
tain artists such as D.H. Lawrence led to
the suppression of such novels as The
Rainbow and Lady Chatterleys Lover. This
was the main issue in the trial of Regina v.
Penguin Books Ltd., over the uncensored
edition of Lady Chatterleys Lover in 1960.
In this test case the publishers were
acquitted. Grove Press won the right to
print the word legally in Lady Chatterley’
Lover, written in 1928. Folks could finally
read, “A lily-livered hound with never a
fuck in him,” and, “It’s all this cold-heart-
ed fucking that is death and idiocy.”

In 1965, Kenneth Tynan caused a furor
by being the first man to say, “fuck,” on

Tuition-free courses provide stepping stone to post-secondary education

 
 

television.

The
Fore

 
    
   
       

films Ulysses and [7] Never
Sisname tie at being the first
the word. On the February
ow of Saturday Night Live,
ket said clearly “Oh man, it’s
e I’ve been shot in my life. I'd
w who the fuck did it.” He and
f the cast except for Joe Piscopo
e Murphy were fired.

levision comedy series
he mainstream a

fuck” and

       
   
  
    
 
   
    
            
     
  
 
   
      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 

2st vulgarism in the English lan-
guage. It is frequently bowdlerized as the
f-word or f***. For centuries, and still by
the great majority, it’s been regarded as a
taboo-word—until recent times, not
often recorded in print but frequent in
coarse speech.

Euphemisms “fuck” abound.
Printers and publishers preferring to take
the self-censoring route of euphemism
initiated a painstaking principle concern-
ing language conceived as ‘fit to print.’
Following Elizabethan injunctions against
vulgarity, this phonetic attrition to evade a
taboo term has become an important gen-
eral device, evident in: flaming, flipping,
freaking, frigging, effing, ferk, flak, forget,
fork, fouled up, frap, fricking, frig, futz,
and even S.N.A.EU. (Situation Normal;
All Fucked Up) or EU.B.A.R. (Fucked
Up Beyond Recognition). This process of
self-censorship is so common that for
many people it is virtually subconscious.

Before the word there was the finger.
Sarnia, Ontario 1979—Trudeau gives the
finger to reporters on a train platform. Its
origin is old, deeply imbedded in our col-
lective psyche. We avoid the word like coy
lovers.

for

 

 

There are many paths to post-secondary education. For
people who left high school before cee there is
a route to reach their goal.

Developmental Studies (DVST) courses at Douglas

College help adults prepare for entry into college-level

courses and programs. DVST courses are offered in the
areas of reading, writing and mathematics, with levels
ranging from basic literacy and numeracy to college
preparation.

Kelly Teague, a first-year student in the Child and
Youth Care Counsellor (CYCC) Program, came to
Douglas College after being out of school for 15 years.

“I finished grade nine, and that was it. My plan was
to go from high school right into university, but I got a
little off-track,” ae Teague. “I initially resented having

to take DVST courses. I just wanted to get on with my
plan, but then I realized that if you can't write it makes
it a little hard to go to College!”

Teague completed two DVST writing and reading

courses, satisfying prerequisites needed to enter the pro-_

gram. She’s now finishing her first semester in the
CYCC program.

“Many people are not aware that they can come to

Douglas College and upgrade their academic abilities to

enter. college career programs and university-transfer |

courses,” says Joyce Cameron, Coordinator of
Developmental Studies.

A 2001 graduate study shows that of the 1,000
Douglas College students who applied for graduation,
12 percent took Development Studies courses.

“DVST courses can be taken before a student enters a
program or at the same time as other college courses,”
says Cameron. “Many of our courses help students ful-

fil prerequisites for college courses in programs such as

criminology, music, general nursing and marketing
management.”
For Teague, the DVST instructors made all the differ-

| lice.

“Instructors like Brenda Braiden gave me the confi-
dence to believe that I could fulfil my dream,” says
‘Teague. “She helped me realize that DVST was a step-
ping stone to get there.”

DVST courses are tuition-free. For more information
on DVST, contact Joyce Cameron at 604-527-5156.

 

© page 20