On the etymology of "sucks"

[dglevy]

@mixdenny

I started a thread about the first use of “sucks” in film on the cafe forum yesterday.

Thanks for the info! Here is the link to the other thread, which provides more useful commentary:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=803542

That thread has a comment:

@lew_cody

The earliest I’ve heard – and it sticks out in my mind because it is a pretty early use – is in Billy Jack from 1971. There’s a scene in which the characters are facing authority figures and an adolescent girl says “This court sucks!” or something along those lines, but “sucks” is definitely there.

This is more or less consistent with my recollection. I remember the expression “you suck!” and “this sucks!” as a new expression sometime in the early 70s. It definitely had a sexual implication, as I remember it.

Also from that other thread:

@journeyman_southpaw

I think Saturday Night Live might have been the first to use the word that way on network television, in its January 22, 1977 episode: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76lstreisand.phtml The word got a HUGE laugh from the audience like they couldn’t believe the show got away with it.

That is also consistent with my experience. I’ve found it interesting to see how, over these many years, the expression has sort of lost its naughty sexual implications and become more acceptable in the mass media and in the mouths of politicians. But it took a long, long time to get there.