The F-Word (27 page)

c
. to cease or abandon, especially suddenly; ditch. See also
fuck it
, below, and
fuck this shit
, below.

1925
Englische Studien
LX 279 [refers to WWI]:
Fuck it
…meant much the same as
chuck it,
“put a sock in it”—stop talking; or even “clear out.”
1965–70
J. Carroll in
Paris Review
(No. 50) 103: No solution is coming so I fuck it and start to yell.
1973
R. Roth
Sand in Wind
150: I got the idea to fuck everything and head for California.
1979
J. Charyn
Seventh Babe
174: Hell…Carl, why don’t we fuck baseball camp and stay right here?
1980
L. Fleischer & C. Gore
Fame
158: Coco’s temper snapped. “Look, I’m not ‘my dear,’” she exploded. “You can fuck ‘my dear’!”
1984
W. Henderson
Elvis
8: For two cents I’d fuck this job! Two goddamn cents —.

d
. chiefly
British
. to be willing to make the required effort; to be bothered. Used in passive, in negative constructions.

1982
M. Amis
Money
253: The Fiasco is still in custody. I keep meaning to go along and spring it from the pound. But I can’t be fucked.
1987
in F. Vermorel
Sex Pistols
78: Boogie expected me at the office early but I couldn’t be fucked to hurry.
1995
D. McLean
Bunker Man
154 Rob decided he couldn’t be fucked rushing back to the school.
1997
J. Owen
Camden Girls
52: I can’t be fucked. It’s so fuckin eighties and you know what, I think I’m all charitied out.
2000
J. Goodwin
Danny Boy
xi. 233: I left school aged sixteen with no qualifications; not because I’m thick, but cos I couldn’t be bothered, couldn’t be fucked.
2004
G. King
Three
52: I also realise the putrefied contents of my downstairs bin have survived to fester and mutate another week as I can’t be fucked throwing on clothes and rushing them to the curb.
2005
L. Dean
This Human Season
100: Kathleen would go on wearing a bra, but she couldn’t be fucked with doing the ironing anymore.

5
. to trifle or interfere with; fool; lie to.

1989
S. Lee
Do the Right Thing
(film): Look, don’t fuck me, awright?
1995
J. Sack
Co. C
185: “You’re
fuckin’
me, XO,” Burns erupted. “You said it’s a
T-55
and it’s plainly a
Bradley
!…You’re lying to
me
!”

In phrases:

fuck a duck

1
. get out! go to hell!—used with
go
.

[
1785
F. Grose
Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
:
Duck f-ck-r
. The man who has the care of the poultry on board a ship of war.]
1931
H. Miller
Letter
(June 16) in
Letters to Emil
(1989) 133: Tell her to go fuck a duck! [
1932
American Speech
VII (June) 332:
Go milk a duck
—“mind your own business.”]
1946
W. L. Gresham
Nightmare Alley
47: Go frig a rubber duck.
1953–55
MacK. Kantor
Andersonville
183: Aw, go fuck a duck. [
1958
R. Chandler
Playback
168: Why don’t you go kiss a duck?]
1965
W. Beech
Make War in Madness
67: Go fuck a duck, Otis.
1967–72
T. Weesner
Car Thief
258: I don’t give a shit, they can go fuck a duck. [
1972
G. Lukas et al.
American Graffiti
(film script) 50: Steve. Hey Kroot (
The teacher turns, surprised by the omission of the “Mr.”
) Steve. (
cont.
) Why don’t you go kiss a duck. (
Kroot’s beady eyes widen and he comes back.
) Kroot. What? What did you say? Steve. I said go kiss a duck, marblehead.]
1973
TULIPQ
(coll. B.K. Dumas): You mother, go fuck a duck.
1977
in E. Partridge
Dictionary of Catch Phrases
(ed. 2) 104:
Go fuck a duck!
“Get lost!” “Beat it!” Current, 1920s (in US), now virtually dead.
a
1990
D. Poyer
Gulf
389: Bernard gave him a go-to-hell sneer.… He could fuck a duck.
1992
J. L’Heureux
Shrine at Altamira
81: When he asked for an advance against his paycheck, the boss had laughed and told him to go fuck a duck.
2005
M. Marnich in
Theatre Forum
(Winter/Spring) 72/2:
Peter
: You never miss a deadline. And you never swear.
Amy
: There’s a first time for everything. Go fuck a duck.

2
. to engage in indiscriminate sexual activity.—used with
will
or
would
.

a
1930
in G. Legman
No Laughing Matter
(1975) 177: Fuckaduck film.
1951
R. Thacher
Captain
40: Hambley, as the saying goes, would frake
a drake.
1972
National Lampoon
(Apr.) 34: You can get anything from an ugly chick.… Really foul, but they’ll fuck a duck.
2004
J. R. Lansdale

Sunset & Sawdust
14: “Shit, I’d fuck a duck if it winked and bent over.” “I don’t think you’d care if it winked or not.”
2008
S. Offit
Friends, Writers, & Other Countrymen
90: I’ve always been quite candid about sex—I would fuck a duck—and have.

3
. (used as an interjection to express anger or astonishment).

1934
H. Miller
Tropic of Cancer
36: Well, fuck a duck! I congratulate him just the same.
1954–60
H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner
Dictionary of American Slang.
1972–76
C. Durden
No Bugles, No Drums
234: I looked at Ski. He looked away. Lord fuck a duck.
1976
S. Hayden
Voyage
420: Well, now, fuck a duck, whaddaya know about that?
1977
D. Bredes
Hard Feelings
250: Operation Rollaway!…Fuck a
duck!
1981
R. Meltzer
Belsen Is No Longer Gas
in
Whore Just Like Rest
(2000) 310: But fuck a
duck
Hitler was a vegetarian.
1986
I. Wedde
Symmes Hole
117: There are men running in many directions…uniforms, mufti, pyjamas… “Fuck a duck!” the other running on. “…hey, you jokers, it’s a breakout from Crawford!”
1990
P. Munro
Slang U.
85:
Fuck a duck!
…Damn!
1993
G. F. Newman
Law & Order
20: “I’m getting a lot of aggro from the filth on account of some videos I done a couple of weeks ago.” “Fuck a duck!” Lynn said.
1996
M. Cheek
Sleeping Beauties
iv. 30: And Chloe, tweezers poised, said spontaneously, “Fuck a duck, that’s
terrible
.”
2002
M. Crichton
Prey
226: “Hey, Charley…I think it’s found a way.” “Yeah, I see it. Fuck a duck.”

4
. (see 1971, 1979 quotations at definition 1c, above).

fucked [up] and far from home
and variants, chiefly
Military
, in a hopeless situation. See also
fed up, fucked up, and far from home
under
FED UP
.

1921–24
A. G. Pretty et al.
Glossary of Slang & Peculiar Terms Used in the A.I.F: F.F.F.
Completely miserable; friged [
sic
], fucked, and far from home.
1936
E. Partridge
Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English
305:
F*cked and far from home
. In the depths of misery, physical and mental: a military [catch phrase]: 1915.
1950
E. Partridge
Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English
(ed. 3) 1054:
F*cked-up and far from home
…dates from 1899.
1955
W. Gaddis
Recognitions
937: The hell with them,
anyway, they’re all of them fucked and far from home, sitting over there right now pretending they’re in New York pretending they’re in Paris.
1972
R.A. Wilson
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words
117: When the IRS was through auditing my return, I was fucked and far from home.
1974
B. Broadfoot
Six War Years
75: We used to have this expression in the [Canadian] army. A guy would say he was fucked and far from home.
1988
G. Swift
Out of this World
170: Fucked-up and far from home. Or, as one hollow-faced Marine lieutenant, who was at the frivolous stage, put it: Dug-in, doped-up, demoralized or dead.
1995
T. Willocks
Bloodstained Kings
207: You were well fucked and far from home.

fucked by the fickle finger of fate
, thwarted or victimized by bad fortune.
Jocular
.

1944–46
in
American Speech
XXII 56:
Flucked by the flickle flinger of flate
. Doomed by Army snafu.
1957
E. Brown
Locust Fire
93 [refers to 1944]: The fickle finger would foul you sure in the end. It would goose you over the edge. Fouled by the fickle finger of fate.
1968
D. Stahl
Hokey
220: I was being totally and fatally fucked by the fickle finger of fate.
1972
R.A. Wilson
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words
104:
Fucked by the fuckle
[
sic
]
fi nger of fate,
(said by those whose plans are thwarted).
1976
in E. Partridge
Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English
(ed. 8) 433:
Fucked by the fickle finger of fate
…Current in U.S. (student) circles at least several years earlier [than WWII].
1983
A. Sillitoe
Lost Flying Boat
92: “Fucked by the fickle finger of fate,” said Bull. “Alliteration will do for you yet,” said Rose.
1986
W. E. B. Griffin
Generals
166: At that moment, Lieutenant Geoffrey Craig understood that he had been fucked by the fickle finger of fate.
1990
B. Graham
Bill Graham Presents
(2004) 41: He always played the role of the guy that was fucked by the fickle finger of fate. He was never totally a bad guy.