I just heard this story that is too ridiculous to believe, and too ridiculous not to believe. It goes like this…In the medieval times when a married couple wanted to have a baby they first had to get the consent of the king. The king, upon consent gave them a wooden plaque to hang on their door with the letters F. U. C. K. standing for: Fornication Under Consent of King. Which is where which over the years has become to be known as a naughty word. Help me ou SD’ers, any truth to this? Cecil??
Hello, TreyJay, and welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board. Our Fearless Leader, Cecil Adams, has indeed answered this question. It’s generally a good idea to check the Archive of Cecil’s columns before posing a question. Here is a link to the column.
Livin’ on Tums, vitamin E and Rogaine
try this one too: http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/fuck.htm
For a general rule of thumb, remember this: whenever you hear the etymology of an older word that claims to be based on an acronym, its almost always bogus. VERY few words are truly based on acronyms, and those that are are of very recent vintage (within the last 100 years or so.)
Like scuba and laser.
So, is a FAQ “Fornication Against the Queen”?
Don’t forget about Van Halen’s For Unlawful [bC**arnal Knowledge.
Oops!
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.