# Hurt like a motherfucker \[use of expletives\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 21, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605 "2014-04-21T13:12:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605/21 "2014-04-21T21:30:48Z")

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> [@rsat3acr](#):
>
> But I’m talkin’ about Shaft 😃

Don’t make it dirty.

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**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605/22 "2014-04-21T21:48:19Z")

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I’ve always wondered why it’s “_Fuck You_”?

When you tell someone to shut themselves up, you don’t say “Shut You”. In fact I can think of many phrases with _“verb you”_.

What’s the etymology behind that, I wonder?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605/23 "2014-04-21T22:07:37Z")

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> [@HubZilla](#):
>
> I’ve always wondered why it’s “_Fuck You_”?
> 
> When you tell someone to shut themselves up, you don’t say “Shut You”. In fact I can think of many phrases with _“verb you”_.
> 
> What’s the etymology behind that, I wonder?

Pretty sure it comes as an intensifier from “damn you.”

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**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurt-like-a-motherfucker-use-of-expletives/686605/24 "2014-04-22T00:37:48Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Just as one of the medics got back from the OP with the second casualty, Raphiel shook his head. “No,” he said, “i’ve lost this motherfucker.” My eyes stung. Raphiel, unlike myself, was not prone to using profanity. He probably wouldn’t have called a dead patient a “motherfucker” back home in Louisiana. On the other hand, in the Airborne, the term “motherfucker” was among the highest terms of endearment.

That’s Col. Hackworth talking about it in _About Face._  
(Why would anyone say whore dog bitch?)

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