The F-Word (21 page)

2
. (a partial euphemism for)
FUCK UP
, definition 2a.

1948
I. Shaw
Young Lions
595: Every day they bury a thousand like you, and the guys like me, who never frigged up, go over the lists and send up a thousand more.
1953
“F. Paley”
Rumble on the Docks
257: The Stompers are saying that only a Digger could frig up like that.
a
1981
in
S. King
Bachman
470: No, I frigged up.
2001
L.E. Modesitt
Octagonal Raven
463: You’ve frigged up bad.

fsck
[after
fsck,
the name of a command on the Unix operating system that checks and repairs disk errors, from
f
ile
s
ystem
c
hec
k
]

Computing.
(a partial euphemism for)
FUCK
, in various senses and parts of speech.

1992
Re: IIGS RGB Out of Focus
on Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.apple2 (Apr. 3): Caveat: I learned about fscking around inside equipment like this (high voltage) as a kid, from my dad.… You can easily kill yourself, even with the power cord unplugged.
1992
Re: Pickup Lines
on Usenet newsgroup soc.singles (July 12): Wanna fsck?
1995
Re: Slight flame from Linux user
on Usenet newsgroup comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc (June 7): Now what the fsck am I meant to do?
2006
Around The Water Cooler: Best comment thread roundup
on
Lifehacker
(online) (Dec. 11): Okay, that right there is fscking HOT.

FTA
interjection

Army.
“
f
uck
t
he
A
rmy.”

1958
“D. Harde”
Lusty Limericks
44: Marching Song of the F.T.A. (Fuck The Army).
1963
T. Doulis
Path for our Valor
32: “And what does FTA stand for, Specialist?”…“Sir…excuse me.… The initials stand for Fuck the Army.”
1969
N.Y. Times Magazine
(May 18) 122: Some of the blacks gave the closed-fist militant salute and several soldiers shouted “F.T.A.”—initials which recruiting sergeants insist stand for “Fun, Travel, and Adventure” but which most soldiers recognize as a suggestion of what should be done to the Army.
1970
W. Just
Military Men
67: The slogan is F.T.A., which means Fuck the Army.
1984
R. Riggan
Free Fire Zone
109: New helmet covers with none of that FTA stuff written in ballpoint pen on them.
1989
D. Hackworth & J. Sherman
About Face
xix. 656: One of the RTOs in Slater’s Operations shop had the letters “FTA” printed boldly on his helmet cover in two-inch-high letters.
a
2007
S. Estes
Ask & Tell
v. 144: There was this whole bad attitude thing about the military, you know, “FTA: Fuck the Army.” Scratch it on the walls, write it on the latrines, FTA, FTA, FTA.

FTL
interjection

“
f
uck
t
he
l
aw.”

1992
New Yorker
(May 18) 28: The graffiti on the walls everywhere said “F.T.L.”—I was told that it stood for “Fuck the Law.”
1995
H. Rawson
Dictionary of Euphemisms
(rev. ed.) 157: Kids still write “FTL” on walls instead of “Fuck The Law.”
1996
M. B. Hunt
Sociolinguistics of Tagging & Chicano Gang Graffiti
(Ph.D. Diss., Univ. Southern California) 94:
FTL
—Fuck the Law.

FTN
interjection

Navy.
“
f
uck
t
he
N
avy.”

1982
F. Mosco
Whitemoon Crisis
(2004) 47: Says right there under the anchor, FTN. That means, Fuck the Navy.
1992
M. Sprouse
Sabotage in American Workplace
74: One guy was constantly harassed and attacked, especially after he carved FTN (fuck the Navy) in his forearm.
2004
C. Burke
Camp All-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight
245: FTN: fuck the Navy (an FTN space is a small space in a ship where a sailor can hide from officers).

FTW
interjection

“
f
uck
t
he
w
orld.”

1968
Psychiatry & Social Science Review
II. 16: Fuck the world (FTW) is their motto and that they have done since their California founding in the early 1950’s.
1972
R.A. Wilson
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words
113:
F.T.W.
A slogan of Hell’s Angels…meaning
fuck the world
.
1981
Easyriders
(Oct.) 68: F.T.W.
1991
D. Gaines
Teenage Wasteland
iii. 67: Joe grabs my arm and draws a tattoo: an iron cross with a snake in the center in purple felt pen; “F.T.W.” on the top, “M.O.D.” on the bottom. He explains as he retraces his artwork on my arm. “Fuck the World” and “Method of Destruction.”
1995
S. Moore
In the Cut
111: I saw the letters FTW tattooed crudely on the boy’s arm.
2004
J. Meno
Hairstyles of Damned
203: They were your typical stoners, one with a black baseball bat that read “F.T.W.”—which stood for Fuck the World.

fubar
adjective
[“
f
ucked
u
p
b
eyond
a
ll
r
ecognition”; suggested by
SNAFU
, definition 1]

1
. Originally
Military
. thoroughly botched or confused. Also
fubar’d
. Occasionally as
noun. Jocular
.

1944
Yank
(Jan. 7) 8: The FUBAR Squadron.… FUBAR? It means “Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.”
1944
Newsweek
(Feb. 7) 61: Recent additions to the ever-changing lexicon of the armed services:
Fubar
. Fouled up beyond all recognition.
1944
in R. L. Tobin
Invasion Journal
48: The Italian campaign was SNAFU for so long.… SNAFU… means, Situation Normal All Fouled Up—with, of course, an unprintable variation in the most common use.… To be FUBAR is much worse. It means Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.
1952
L. Uris
Battle Cry
114: Fubar on the nets and you can louse up an entire landing team.
Ibid.
300: A full-scale fubar’d mess.
1957
A. Myrer
Big War
119: What’s to this yarn about you being a fubar character from the word advance?
1972
B. Davidson
Cut Off
30 [refers to WWII]: An even stronger superlative was Fubar—Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
1982
Daily Beacon
(univ. newspaper) (Feb. 3) 2: Move it, fubar!
1987
Daily Beacon
(univ. newspaper) (Apr. 9) 4: I already have a name picked out for my license plate.… “FUBAR.” figure it out for yourself. [
Hint
]…beyond all repair.
1990
E. W. Rukuza
West Coast Turnaround
196: And the situation? FUBAR.

2
. thoroughly intoxicated.

1985
U.S. college student:
Fubar
means drunk. Like, “Man, I was fubar last night.”
1990
J. Sanders
Cal Poly Slang
4:
Fubar
—intoxicated beyond all recognition. [Example:] I was so
fubar
I couldn’t find my date to take her home.
1991
C. Eble
Campus Slang
(Fall) 2:
Fubar
—very drunk.
1998
Canberra Times
(Australia) (May 30) A2: Many terms [for drunkenness] are insults—“full as a tick” and the acronym FUBAR, “fouled up beyond all recognition.”

fubar
verb

to ruin; botch;
SNAFU
,
verb
.

1946
“J. MacDougal” in
Astounding Science Fiction
(Oct.) 55/1: Well, there are a lot of minor ones, which must have fubared things in all directions once Co-ordination accepted them.
1953
L. M. Uris
Battle Cry
114: Fubar on the nets and you can louse up an entire landing team.
1995
N. Stephenson
Diamond Age
147: Financial transactions could no longer be monitored by governments, and the tax collection systems got fubared.
2001
O. West
Sharkman Six
xxii. 271: Nothing—not these fubared rules, this fubared country, or even the ambush—excuses Armstrong.

FUBB
adjective
[suggested by FUBAR]

Originally
Military
. “
f
ucked
u
p
b
eyond
b
elief.”
Jocular
. [In 2000 quote, as
noun.
]

1952
Time
(Aug. 18) 6: Snafu and cummfu are a bit old hat in Washington, along with tarfu (“things are really”), fubar (“beyond all realization”), fubb (“beyond belief “).
1979
J. Homer
Jargon
162.
1984
K. Weaver
Texas Crude
40:
F.U.B.B
.… Fucked Up Beyond Belief.
2000
P. Morgan
Parrot’s Beak
143: In Vietnam, we called it a FUBB, fucked up beyond belief.

FUBIO
interjection

Military.
“
f
uck
you, b
ub,
i
t’s
o
ver.”
Jocular
.

1946
American Speech
(Feb.) 72: The final word came after V-J day, FUBIO. Its description of the post-war attitude…meant “F—You, Bub, It’s Over.”

FUBIS
or
FYBIS
interjection

Army.
“
f
uck
y
ou,
b
uddy,
I
’m
s
hipping out (or
s
hort).” Compare FIGMO.

1967
H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner
Dictionary of American Slang
(supplement) 685:
Fubis…
Fuck you, buddy, I’m shipping (out).
Army use since c1960
.
2007
L. Bucher
Sea Stories
331: My own simple design consisted only of large, fat letters: FYBIS (Fuck You, Buddy, I’m Short).

fuck
noun
[see etymology and note at the verb]

1
.
a
. an act of copulation.

1663
R. Head
Hic et Ubique
I. vi. 18: I did creep in…and there I did see putting [
sic
] the great fuck upon my weef.
1676
Lampoon
in G. Williams
Dict. Sexual Language & Imagery in Shakespearean & Stuart Literature
(1994) I. 563: Her wider cunt did gape/For a more substantial fuck.
1680
Lord Rochester
Poems
37: Thus was I Rook’d of Twelve substantial Fucks.
1763
in J. Atkins
Sex in Literature
IV 154: Then just a few good fucks, and then we die.
a
1850
in H. N. Cary
Slang of Venery
I 91: Well mounted on a mettled steed,/Famed for his strength as well as speed,/Corinna and her favorite buck/Are please’d to have a flying f—k.
1865
“Philocomus”
Love Feast
vi. 59: Whoever thought ’twould be my luck/To get from my own sex a fuck.
ca
1866
Romance of Lust
35: I wished to quietly enjoy a fuck.
1867
in A. Doten
Journals
II 949 [in cipher]: Me & my love have had this far just one hundred good square fucks together.
1879
Harlequin Prince Cherrytop
28: Now we can do no better I’ll be bound,/Than to celebrate our joy with fucks all round.
1879
Pearl
127: Oh! What a nice fuck!
1888
Stag Party
42: Adonis…gave her a most systematical fuck.
1899
Memoirs of Dolly Morton
249: Here goes for the fust fuck.
1923
Poems, Ballads, & Parodies
22: He was working like a son of a bitch/To get another fuck.
1928
in A. W. Read
Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy
(1935) 55: Me and my wife had a fuck.
1934
“J. M. Hall”
Anecdota Americana
(Second series) 26: Every time you threw a fuck into me I put a penny in the bank.
1934
H. Miller
Tropic of Cancer
78: He has absolutely no ambition except to get a fuck every night.
1938
H. Miller
Tropic of Capricorn
104: Into each…one…I throw an imaginary fuck.
1940
Ramirez v. State
[of Arizona], in
Pacific Reporter, 2d Series
CIII 461: While she was in bed asleep the defendant entered her room, grabbed her by the throat… he stood at the head of her bed and when she awoke made this statement to her: “Gonna throw a fuck into you”; that he did not say, “I’m going to” but just “gonna”; that after telling her this he loosened his grip somewhat and kissed her.
1947
C. Willingham
End as a Man
240: A fuck for a buck.
1956
J. Cheever in
Letters
(1988) 178: You’ve just talked yourself out of a fuck.
1971
Go Ask Alice
117: All I needed was a good fuck.
1987
K. Lette
Girls’ Night Out
(1989) 99: There aren’t many things that beat getting your best friend arrested. One is losing a limb down the food disposal unit. Another is remembering in the middle of a fuck that you’ve still got a tampon in.
1990
L.B. Rubin
Erotic Wars
75: All she wanted was “a good clean fuck.”
1997
GQ
(Mar.) 166: Good cry, good hug, one last fuck for old times’ sake.
2006
L. Douglas
Catastrophist
263: “So why did you stop after only two fucks? Well?” “I don’t know. It just seemed enough.”