# Origin of "sucks" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036 "2001-10-17T19:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/1 "2001-10-17T19:16:58Z")
As in “Ya-boo, sucks to you.” Or “Sucks to your ass-mar.” Obviously, I understand the fellatio origin of saying something sucks, but in the contexts above (which are both British, by the way, the former from Black Adder, the latter from Lord of the Flies), where did it come from and what does it mean? ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/2 "2001-10-17T22:42:08Z")
I’m getting a workout on the OED tonight: > [@](#): > > 1. pl. as int. Used as an expression of contempt, chiefly by children. Also in phr. sucks to you and varr. slang. > > 1913 C. MACKENZIE Sinister Street I. I. vii. 98 This kid’s in our army, so sucks! 1922 F. HAMILTON P.J.: Secret Service Boy iv. 178 ‘S’, he announced, ‘u,c,k,s,t,o,y,o,u.’ 1935 N. MITCHISON We have been Warned I. 28 Brian is a baby. Oh sucks, oh sucks on Brian. 1945 E. WAUGH Brideshead Revisited II. v. 287 It’s great sucks to Bridey. 1952 ‘C. BRAND’ London Particular xv. 191 A most regretable air of sucks to you. 1968 Melody Maker 30 Nov. 24/5 This is a rotten recordyah boo and sucks. 1974 Times 4 Mar. 9/5 Sucks boo, then, with acting like this, to that new National Theatre down the road. 1978 ‘J. LYMINGTON’ Waking of Stone ii. 45 ‘Sucks to you!’ she said…tossing her head so her pigtails swung. 1983 Listener 19 May 11/1 The council treated the urbane Mr Cook to the politician’s equivalent of ‘Yah, boo, sucks’. Of all the other dozens of entries for “suck,” there’s no indication of where exactly it derived from in this particular slang form. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/3 "2001-10-17T23:43:42Z")
“Sucks to your ass-mar” is from William Gouldings’s \*Lord of the Flies": > [@](#): > > “Piggy tip-toed down the sandy side of the pool, and sat there up to his neck in water smiling proudly at Ralph. > > ‘Aren’t you going to swim? ’ > > Piggy shook his head. > > ‘I can’t swim. I wasn’t allowed. My asthma----’ > > ‘Sucks to your ass-mar!’ ” ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/4 "2001-10-17T23:54:46Z")
He mentioned that, ya dork! 😉 But seriously, I think its related to “suck eggs” (although in modern connotation its often assumed to mean “sucks dick”). What the hell “suck eggs” means is anyones guess. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/5 "2001-10-18T00:12:09Z")
> [@](#): > > “Sucks to your ass-mar” is from William Gouldings’s Lord of the Flies" > [@](#): > > He mentioned that, ya dork! Yes, and I was pretty sure it didn’t originate with this author, but rather he was using a slang term already widely known. > [@](#): > > But seriously, I think its related to “suck eggs” (although in modern connotation its often assumed to mean “sucks dick”). What the hell “suck eggs” means is anyones guess. That’s a pretty good idea. I hadn’t thought of that, although now you’ve mentioned it, it makes sense. I think such henhouse predators as weasels and skunks are known to sneak in at night and suck eggs, thus the act of sucking would be that of a craven nogoodnik. Isn’t there a quote from either Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer to the effect that a person who will do [something, I forget what] would suck eggs? This would also be a boyish taunt, and I could see it moving from that (circa 1880 - 90) to early 20th Century “sucks to you!” In other words, a shorthand version of telling someone he’s a lousy egg-sucker. Thanks! At least this isn’t so mystifying now. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/6 "2001-10-18T00:32:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by occ \* > **He mentioned that, ya dork! 😉** How clever of you to point out my oversight; and with such rapier wit, too! ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/7 "2001-10-18T01:34:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by occ \* > > **He mentioned that, ya dork! 😉** > > How clever of you to point out my oversight; and with such rapier wit, too! \*\* **occ’s** simply keeping the spirit of the subject of the OP, ya dweeb. 😉 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/8 "2001-10-18T01:48:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \* > Isn’t there a quote from either Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer to the effect that a person who will do [something, I forget what] would suck eggs? \*\* Sure is. Right before Tom beats up the prissy new kid. > [@](#): > > Smarty! You think you’re SOME, now, DON’T you? Oh, what a hat!" > > “You can lump that hat if you don’t like it. I dare you to knock it off – and anybody that’ll take a dare will suck eggs.” > > “You’re a liar!” > > “You’re another.” > > “You’re a fighting liar and dasn’t take it up.” So basically saying that someone will suck eggs is like saying that they’re low and stupid. Quite easy to see how that could go from ‘you suck eggs’ to ‘you suck’ and not lose its meaning. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/9 "2001-10-18T02:25:44Z")
Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog Well, he’s not very handsome to look at Aw! he’s shaggy and eats like a hog And he’s always killin’ my chickens That dirty Egg-Suckin’ Dog. Egg-Suckin’ Dog I’m gonna stomp your head in the ground If you don’t stay out of my hen house You dirty Egg-Suckin’ hound. … ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/10 "2001-10-18T02:34:04Z")
> [@](#): > > But for people of a certain age, “Yah boo, sucks to you” is > indelibly associated with Billy Bunter, a fat schoolboy created by > Frank Richards (1875-1961), and immortalized in children’s books and > comics of the period. Even when I was a small boy in the 1940s, > “sucks” in that context sounded old-fashioned and upper-class, and > personally I’ve never heard or seen it except as a conscious parody > of Bunter. From [alt-usage](http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxsuckbe.html) this will address the **OP** asking about “Yah boo” although it is less than satisfying in determining the origin of the term. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_The\_Bold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dale\_The\_Bold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_The_Bold)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-sucks/88036/11 "2001-10-18T04:15:34Z")
Gee, and here I thought the word originated from a vacuum. If an _experience_ “sucked,” It meant that it was negative. The good-ness was “sucked” away. I never thought people pictured someone sucking a penis whenever I said “you suck.” Now I understand the bewildered looks at the church bazaar.