Interesting theory

[BensGrandad]

Was in a pub this evening and an Irish man was taking the piss out of us English because nobody knew where the word f*** came from. His theory: In the 18/19th century the English landowners sent what we now call bailiffs in to collect their taxes from the workers of the land in Scotland and if they arrived at their house and the couple were making love the bailiffs were unable to collect the taxes so they nailed a notice to the outside of the building stating they couldnt collect the taxes For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge hence the first letters f u c k and according to him this is still the law now. A bailff can not serve a distress warrant if a couple are making love.

I thought it quite an amusing theory.

 

[Fixtures]

Was in a pub this evening and an Irish man was taking the piss out of us English because nobody knew where the word f*** came from. His theory: In the 18/19th century the English landowners sent what we now call bailiffs in to collect their taxes from the workers of the land in Scotland and if they arrived at their house and the couple were making love the bailiffs were unable to collect the taxes so they nailed a notice to the outside of the building stating they couldnt collect the taxes For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge hence the first letters f u c k and according to him this is still the law now. A bailff can not serve a distress warrant if a couple are making love.

I thought it quite an amusing theory.

If true it puts Geoffrey Chaucer way ahead of his time.

 

[Brovion]

There's so many of those stories about the origins of f.u.c.k, s.h.i.t, g.a.y., etc. - and they're all bollocks. It's an example of a 'backronym' (as opposed to an acronym) where the word exists and people try and work out what it stand for.

 

[beorhthelm]

its germanic/anglo saxon.

 

[readingstockport]

It certainly existed and was used as a word in at least the 9th century wasn't it.

 

[MattBackHome]

I thought it was coined by Tony Slattery in 1989? It's a theory.

 

[Brovion]

I would guess most working people in 17th/18th century Britain would look at the letters F.U.C.K and ask "What the f*** do those squiggles mean?"

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

"Making love"....... *shudders*

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

 

[Cian]

I think you'll find he was trying to see the most insane story you'd actually believe, to be honest. Its a saxon word.

 

[tedebear]

Word History: The obscenity f*** is a very old word and has been considered shocking from the first, though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys," from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris," that is, "fleas, flies, and friars." The line that contains f*** reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia," mean "they [the friars] are not in heaven, since." The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields "fvccant [a fake Latin form] vvivys of heli." The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they f*** wives of Ely [a town near Cambridge]."

Courtesy of Dictionary.com

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Was in a pub this evening and an Irish man was taking the piss out of us English because nobody knew where the word f*** came from. His theory: In the 18/19th century the English landowners sent what we now call bailiffs in to collect their taxes from the workers of the land in Scotland and if they arrived at their house and the couple were making love the bailiffs were unable to collect the taxes so they nailed a notice to the outside of the building stating they couldnt collect the taxes For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge hence the first letters f u c k and according to him this is still the law now. A bailff can not serve a distress warrant if a couple are making love.

I thought it quite an amusing theory.

A similar theory exists about when the infamous Mr Canning went to buy some T shirts from French Connection. After a few bevvies he got to the shop only to find it closed. Peering through the window he could see two of the shop workers at it behind the counter. So , as a conscientious civil servant he wrote the letters F C U K on the door. Later on , this daubing became a multi million marketing ploy by French Connection

 

[Napper]

It was used in life of brian so was around with Jesus

 

[crodonilson]

There's so many of those stories about the origins of f.u.c.k, s.h.i.t, g.a.y., etc. - and they're all bollocks. It's an example of a 'backronym' (as opposed to an acronym) where the word exists and people try and work out what it stand for.

Are you telling me gay doesn't really stand for 'good as you'??

 

[Mendoza]

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it f*** which of course in German means a whale's vagina.

 

[Brovion]

Are you telling me gay doesn't really stand for 'good as you'??

Sorry to disappoint you! The apparent catalyst was the song 'Green Carnation' from the 1929 Noel Coward musical 'Bitter Sweet' but there are other, earlier, claims all stemming from the word's sexualised connotation of being a bit, well, daring. It's generally accepted that the 1938 film 'Bringing up Baby' was the first to use the word 'Gay' to mean homosexual and by 1963 the term was well-known enough to be used by Albert Ellis in his book 'The Intelligent woman's guide to Man-hunting'.

 

[Buzzer]

Sorry to disappoint you! The apparent catalyst was the song 'Green Carnation' from the 1929 Noel Coward musical 'Bitter Sweet' but there are other, earlier, claims all stemming from the word's sexualised connotation of being a bit, well, daring. It's generally accepted that the 1938 film 'Bringing up Baby' was the first to use the word 'Gay' to mean homosexual and by 1963 the term was well-known enough to be used by Albert Ellis in his book 'The Intelligent woman's guide to Man-hunting'.

what about 'benny bender'?

It was in common parlance at Durrington Middle School around 1979, I know that much.

 

[Superphil]

I was told that the word derived from the blasphemous "For Christs Sake" which,if you say it out loud, starts with a clear "f***". As using Blasphemy at the time was a serious issue, the term "f***" became synonymous with an offensive expletive. I don't know why it became associated with a word for having sex.