Well, if “sucks” is profanity, much of Canada had profanity on its newsstands and coffee tables two weeks ago.
Although I can’t find a picture of the cover itself, “Canada’s national magazine” - MacLean’s (sorta like Time magzine) - had a recent issue with the following words plastered prominently on the cover:
Pornography, gambling, lies, theft and terrorism: The Internet sucks
In my house when I was a young kid, it was always considered vaguely nasty -without explanation, of course. It was the least of the curses; somewhat less nasty than ‘crap’ (that one didn’t require explanation). Since then, ‘sucks’ has reduced to a no-op, probably in part due to the fact that I would use it to refer to vacuum cleaners whenever the opportunity arose.
“The vaccuum cleaner broke.”
“Well, doesn’t that suck.”
“So we went out and bought a new one.”
“Now, that sucks.”
Quite true. When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, “You suck!” was universally understood to mean that you sucked dick, which was one of the worst insults possible. As I recall, it was usually used in this kind of phrase; it was rarely if ever used in the form “That sucks” as a reference to a situation in general.
The word was certainly regarded as a rather harsh obscenity at that time (though as has been pointed out, not profanity). I am still sometimes startled to here it coming from the mouth of a pre-teen.
I’ll wager those saying it “was never a bad word” were either born after 1970 or have led a rather sheltered life.
I use it in front of my Mom, and that has always been my profanity test. If I’m not embarassed to say it in front of Mom, it’s OK. 
Thanks, Colibri.
An analogy might be hearing people use “cocksucker” casually, and then when you ask them if they know what it means, to be met by either blank expressions, or someone suggesting that it probably means “likes to sip on cocktails” or “likes eating chicken.”
Wow, I didn’t realize the term had been in use that long. I didn’t hear it until I was in high school, 1981 or so. Prior to that, I only heard it in conjunction with what is being sucked. Always “You suck big green donkey dicks”, never just “you suck”. Of course, I heard “cocksucker” plenty prior to high school.
I wonder if Ross Perot and his “giant sucking sound” had anything to do with the current mainstream acceptance of “sucks”. Perhaps his words inadvertently, but helpfully, provided an alternative meaning to the word.
Because now my good, Christian, 62-year-old mother says “that sucks” every once in a while 
I saw an editorial — with photo — in the University of Wisconsin student newspaper circa 1948 chastising whoever painted it on a wall in reference to an opposing school’s football team, as bringing disgrace on our own campus.
I am over 40. Never was considered profanity in my experience. And I’m from a small town in the U.S.A. and grew up in a relatively middle class suburban home. So it’s not like I’m unrefined.
My point stands. The phrase was understood differently in working-class neighborhoods in the Bronx.
Do you mean that you understood the phrase to refer to blowjobs, but didn’t consider that to be profanity (or obscenity); or that you (or people in your town) just didn’t realize that it actually referred to blowjobs?
I would say we understood the phrase as referring to blowjobs, but as long as it wasn’t explicit, parents and teachers let it slide. Of course I’d have gotten yelled at if I had said “This sucks green donkey dicks.” But if I said “This sucks,” referring to a bad movie or bad personal situation, I never caught shit for it. I certainly don’t consider myself sheltered. But we never got yelled at for using “sucks” as long as we didn’t say the word explicitly preceding terminology for a sexual act. YMMV.
Addendum: Usually we meant “sucks” in the manner of “This sucks wind,” or flatulence, if you please. Gross as it may sound, people in my area had more tolerance for scatological references than for sexual ones. Sucking farts is a gross sounding concept, but saying “This sucks,” or “you suck,” was equal in meaning to “eat crap.”
(Not directed toward anyone here personally, honestly. I’m just trying to put it in a frame of reference to what people around me tolerated in regards to crude language.)
That’s clearer then. My statement was in reference to those who didn’t actually understand the derivation of the phrase.
Also, we never, ever, said, “you suck” when directly addressing an adult. If we said it to kids in our peer groups, it was more likely to be allowed to slide by. And if we did insult our friends, it was usually in a humorous, male-bonding type of way. (I know. Guys. We do like to rag on each other.) As long as we watched our language around adults and treated them with the proper respect, much was forgiven. All that aside, “suck” was still not considered a nasty word, in my experience.
