The F-Word (23 page)

5
. an evil turn of events; a cheat of fortune.

1972
W. Pelfrey
Big V
9: “Regulars by God.” Conscripts by fuck.
a
1984
in S. Terkel “
Good War
” 306: Know what they did? They made him a lieutenant colonel and me a captain. Ain’t that a fuck?
1998
T. Gilliam in
New Yorker
(May 25) 74: To start pulling things off the soundtrack now is a fuck!

In phrases:

flying fuck
, see under
FLYING
.

for fuck’s sake
, for heaven’s sake.

1943
D. Brennan
Never so Young Again
xxiii. 206: They’re coming up to starboard! Weave! For f—sake!
1961
J. Jones
Thin Red Line
16 [refers to WWII]: Don’t
talk
like that!…for fuck’s sake.
1964
A. Davidson in
Worlds of Tomorrow
(Aug.) 11: You space-apes who haven’t signed the Declaration, don’t hang around picking your toes, for —sake, come on out and
sign
it!
1966
G.M. Williams
Camp
94: What’ll we call you then for fuck’s sake?
1976
A. Schroeder
Shaking It Rough
20: An inmate kicked irritably at an uncooperative piece of machinery and announced succinctly that “the fuckin fucker’s fucked, fer fuck sakes!”
1964–78
J. Carroll
Basketball
Diaries
26: Now he’s on tour for fuck’s sake.
1997
Sick Puppy Comix
(Sydney, Australia) (No. 5) 17: The moral of this story is: for fuck’s sake don’t talk to strange little kids!
2008
L. Weisberger
Chasing Harry Winston
129: Come here, for fuck’s sake, and hug me again!

fuck knows
, Chiefly
British
. (used to indicate that something is unknown to the speaker); “God knows.”

1976
P. Callow
Story of my Desire
vi. 42: “When’s your case come up?” David said. “Fuck knows.”
1988
G. Patterson
Burning your Own
(1993) 245: I know what youse’re thinking: “he must be mad.” Well, if that was mad, then fuck knows what youse’ll say when youse see the next knockdown bargain.
2001
C. Glazebrook
Madolescents
302: Tell spaceboy to turn the volume down. I can’t get through to him, fuck knows what he’s on.
2007
I. Welsh
If You Liked School, You’ll Love Work
85: Fuck knows what they are, I ain’t seen them anywhere else.

fuck of
, a notable example or quantity of; “hell of.”

1928
in A. W. Read
Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy
(1935) 55: This is a fuck of a rain.
1942
H. Miller
Roofs of Paris
121: It would be a fuck of a lot more interesting.
1970
T. Thackrey
Thief
230: Oh, wow! What a fuck of a way for a couple hot-rocks like them to go out.
1973
J. Flaherty
Fogarty & Co.
26: It was a fuck of a country that could scrimmage for souls.
1977
K. Bartlett
Finest Kind
20: I’ll have a fuckuva time getting back in.
1978
L. K. Truscott
Dress Gray
219: It’s gonna be one fuck of a long two months.
1982
C.R. Anderson
Other War
171: Thanks a lot, Altizer. Thanks a fuck of a lot.
1985
D. Bodey
F.N.G.
114: He’s lost a fuckuva lot of blood.
1996
P.F. Hamilton
Reality Dysfunction
983: The doctors wired your neural nanonics to your liver.… It was one fuck of a lot smarter than your brain.
2002
W. Self
Dorian
120: Finding out you’re going to die a fuck of a lot sooner, rather than the hoped-for hell of a lot later.
2006
H. Shearer
Not Enough Indians
147: Lobbyists…get paid a fuck of a lot better than G-15s at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

holy fuck!
(used to express astonishment).

1945
in T. Shibutani
Derelicts of Company K
202: Holy fuck! We’re gonna freeze our ass off.
1967
H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner
Dictionary of American Slang
(supp.) 690.
1977
T. Jones
Incredible Voyage
373: “Holy
fuck!” I thought, “I’ve only got a mile of sea-room.”
1983
W. D. Ehrhart
Vietnam to Perkasie
138: “Holy fuck,” he muttered.
1989
R. Zumbro & J. Walker
Jungletracks
89: Holy fuck, Lieutenant, kill ’em quick!
1996
Picture
(Sydney, Australia) (Dec. 4) 3: “Holy fuck!” whispered one. “Jeez!” murmured another.
1999
K. Smith
Dogma
(film script) 41: Holy fuck—all the fine, immoral bitches coming out of that place, and we gotta find the one Jesus freak!
2006
M. Pessl
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
397: “Holy fuck,“ Milton said, staring down at the photograph. I turned it over, but there was nothing written on it, no date. “It’s her isn’t it?”

like fuck
, Chiefly
British
, absolutely not; “like hell.” Compare definition 2c, above.

a
1950
E. Partridge
Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English
(ed. 3) 1054:
F*ck! like
.… “…certainly not!”: low: late C. 19-20.
1966
S. Hignett
Picture to Hang on the Wall
237: “Don’t worry too much, lad.” “Thanks. Like fuck, I won’t.”
1980
J. P. Donleavy
Schultz
292: “I will scratch your face.” “Like fuck you will.”
1990
H. Benedict
World Like This
99: “I’m only telling you what they say, Larry.” “Like fuck you are.”
1995
N. Hornby
High Fidelity
302: Like fuck you are.
1995
A. Enright
Wig my Father Wore
134: “Game show one night, date show the next,” says Marcus. “Same set?” “New set. Two new sets.” “There’s posh. And after that, twice as much for their money.” “One and a half,” he says. “Like fuck. We’ll be going live in half the time,” I say, “because I’m a fucking eejit.”
1997
M. Evans
Glass Mountain
ii. 17: “What in the fuck are you?” I looked at Jimmy Barry, surprised. “I’m a punkette,” I said. “You are like fuck.”
2001
I. Sinclair
Landor’s Tower
i. ix. 122: If Tunstall rewound the tape, he could enjoy once more his envelope of meditative calm.… Unknowing knowingness. Like fuck he could. In telling me, he confirmed the tale.
2005
L. Dean
This Human Season
xlvii. 280: There are some things you hear and you can’t forget and they stay with you and you wish like fuck you’d never heard them or never seen them.

the fuck