I never thought the word “sucks” was obscene or vulgar. Nor did anyone in my circle of family or friends. In fact, it was considered less objectionable than such mild cuss words as “damn” or “hell.” No undesirability at all, in my experience.
Although I do some kind of flap about 15 years ago when a child character on the TV series “Uncle Buck” said “You suck.” It was big news that someone used the word in that context in a prime time network sitcom.
I’ve mentioned this one before, but this thread would not be complete without a commercial reference.
When the Electrolux vacuum cleaner was first introduced into the US, the Scandinavian manufacturers retained the slogan which had been very successful in Britain, Nothing sucks like an Electrolux. It was not quite so successful here.
As a variant, I remember when, in 4th grade, my friend Sean loudly proclaimed of the current round of Gnip Gnop, “This sucks moose cock!”
Neither he nor I knew my mom was just around the corner and was very very very very shocked to hear such language.
Oh man, my family thought that slogan was hilarious! It was part of the reason we bought an Electrolux, actually (other than the fact that they have a rep as being good; ours is near 15 years old and still works great).
I never thought “sucks” was vulgar. But then, I never thought “crap” (as in a general load of garbage) was vulgar, either.
On the other hand, I draw the line at “damn,” “hell,” “shit,” “piss,” and stuff of that nature spoken in my house.
“Sucks” has definately been reduced to the level of slightly coarse- most people wouldn’t use it in a formal situation or around especially small children, but it’s fine informally.
“Sucks” has not been a swear word for years, based on the widely-held (i.e. held by everyone in my family) rule that, once my mother uses a word in front of her children, it is no longer a swear words.
Other words that have also been deemed “non-swear words” by this rule are: damn, hell, piss, crap and shit.
It was never profanity to me.
Sucks for your family.
The variant when I was in junior high school (1978-81) was “You suck big, green, donkey dicks!” which was eventually reduced to “You suck!”
Nowadays, “sucks” finds its way into my pastor’s sermons, so it’s okay now 
I’ve always wondered…What exactly does “go suck an egg MEAN?”
Oh and the etymology of the sucks = blowjob, probaly has some misogentic/ homophobic undertones.
No no no, it’s "this sucks dead moose cock. Obviously this kid wasn’t that sophisticated.
To the OP, I think it’s gone the way of jerk and is now rendered harmless. But I do think it came from blowjobs, being a horrible lowely thing to do…if your a man. Women can do it because we’re already lowely :rolleyes: . I just don’t understand guys.
I have to ask…why IS it blowjob? Anyone know? THERE IS NO BLOWING UNLESS YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. I think everyone knows that. So where did blow job come from?
Isn’t a “sucker” someone who is fooled by something? “Sucked in” meaning they basically inhaled all the lies and dishonesty and fabrication that was sent their way. This makes them feel embarrassed and disappointed at themselves and they generally feel bad.
So when something “sucks” it’s a lot like being a sucker - i.e. bad, disappointing.
At least, that’s what I always thought.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone suggest it was profane before this tread. Maybe it’s a generational thing. It wouldn’t occur to me not to use it around my grandmother or small kids (although obviously there are more creative ways to suggest that something is bad, and if you feel like being linguistically creative “sucks” should be avoided).
Another vote for “sucks was never profanity”. Do you forbid your kids from dancing, too?
If “sucks” was ever supposed to mean “like a blowjob”, why the hell does it mean “this is really disagreeable”?? If sucks used to mean “like a blowjob”, then the expression “This sucks” would have meant “This is the greatest thing, EVER.” So it would have been used the same way as “cool” or “rad” or “awesome”. But it means the exact opposite. So it makes no sense that it has anything to do with blowjobs.
If you go looking for profanity hard enough, you can find it just about anywhere. I recall reading a story by Maya Angelou in which she says her grandma slapped her for saying, “By the way.” By her grandma’s definition, The Lord Jesus Christ is The Way, and to say, “By the way” is taking The Lord’s Name in vain.
I’m fourthing or fifthing sucks was never a bad word, and was preferable to crap or shit.
What about anal? I mean it has a double meaning - just like cock and fellate
ahem It is the recipient that does the blowing. “Thar [s]he blows!”
By that line of reasoning, “fuck you” couldn’t possibly be considered offensive either.
Look, ask anyone over 40 if the term was considered offensive. If you’re too young to know that, don’t be telling those who were around then that they must be wrong. Yes, it plainly meant blowjobs. It was used originally as an accusative against a male, meaning that he performed oral sex on other men, i.e., an insult couched in plain old homophobia.
Use of the slang sense was not allowed on prime time network television before 1990, when the sitcom Uncle Buck broke the taboo. It was notable enough that Time magazine wrote about it: