# Why does saying something sucks mean it's bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111 "2018-09-10T16:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/21 "2018-09-10T23:01:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I understand what you’re saying but I still disagree. You’re begging the question. > > I feel that when most people use the word suck, even as a sexual term, they’re thinking of it in a heterosexual perspective rather than a homosexual perspective. So an expression like “the weather sucks” wouldn’t work as a homophobic insult because the context isn’t there. It doesn’t make sense because you are seeing yourself as the receiver of this oral sex. You’re not being sucked by the weather - the weather is sucking some random, unspecified penis(s). There really isn’t a homo- or heterosexual component to it - unless you can think of some word or phrase that includes both “suck” and an alternative to penis that would generally be considered complementary when used to or about a woman. I can’t think of one. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/22 "2018-09-10T23:14:26Z")
Tangentially, why is “suck” associated with oral sex anyway? Who has ever had their penis actually “sucked”? I dont see that as being too enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Jungian\_Camisole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jungian\_Camisole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jungian_Camisole)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/23 "2018-09-10T23:21:01Z")
As a teenager in the 70’s, the phrase I heard was “this sucks shit”. We knew in the movie Uncle Buck when the kid says “this sucks” , it was scandalous because we knew what went at the end of that phrase. I figured it was just shortened to “this sucks” as time went on. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/24 "2018-09-10T23:39:58Z")
Looking at the other thread, I’ll revise my previous statement. It does seem like the etymology is fairly uncertain. If it started as a child’s statement, “Sucks to you”, I wouldn’t say that that rules out sexual terminology (kids are aware of things, despite popular conception), but I could see that as being a shorter equivalent to, “My response to you would be ‘go suck an egg’.” I could also see it as being a replacement word, like “darn” instead of “damn”. If we have any etymologists handy, I’d be curious to know how popular “go suck an egg” was in the early 20th century, whether fellatio could be referenced as “sucking” at the time, and whether there were any other phrase that ended with “to you” that were more naughty? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/25 "2018-09-11T00:21:44Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If we have any etymologists handy, I’d be curious to know how popular “go suck an egg” was in the early 20th century, whether fellatio could be referenced as “sucking” at the time, and whether there were any other phrase that ended with “to you” that were more naughty? [I doubt that it was an _obscure_ phrase](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22go+suck+an+egg%22&hl=en&tbm=bks&ei=_QeXW6HNCsLGsAWxnL3wDA&start=0&sa=N). The earliest movie listed [here](http://www.subzin.com/s/Go+suck+an+egg) having the phrase is 1945, but that source is probably heavily weighted towards more recent films. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/26 "2018-09-11T00:32:46Z")
“Suck rocks” is a phrase too. Don’t know where/when it originated tho. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/27 "2018-09-11T00:35:39Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Tangentially, why is “suck” associated with oral sex anyway? Who has ever had their penis actually “sucked”? I dont see that as being too enjoyable. Conversely, “eating” pussy makes more sense (to me at least) than “sucking” dick. I’m curious as to the origins of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Textual\_Innuendo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@Textual\_Innuendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Textual_Innuendo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/28 "2018-09-11T23:36:31Z")
I’m not sure there’s much meat to this, though. Even if we stipulate as an accepted premise “okay, ‘sucking’ originates in sexual innuendo, why is it used to indicate bad stuff?” it can still be used pejoratively, and without any implied homophobia. Having sex or masturbating is great for an individual, but like **Thudlow** points out, that doesn’t mean pejoratives like “fuck off” or “go fuck yourself” or “fuck you” or “wanker” or “jerk off!” aren’t used frequently and enthusiastically. Likewise, taking a dump is a universal experience that most people feel better after, but there’s scads of scatological phrases and pejoratives, for countless occasions, and associated concepts covered by “ass” and “asshole” and who knows what else. But we’re all better off for personally having asses and assholes and taking dumps! So I’m not sure why even if something is enjoyable individually, it can’t be used pejoratively, because we have many examples of this happening elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/29 "2018-09-12T00:16:25Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [I doubt that it was an _obscure_ phrase](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22go+suck+an+egg%22&hl=en&tbm=bks&ei=_QeXW6HNCsLGsAWxnL3wDA&start=0&sa=N). The earliest movie listed [here](http://www.subzin.com/s/Go+suck+an+egg) having the phrase is 1945, but that source is probably heavily weighted towards more recent films. I’m not sure that showing that it was used in one movie in 1945 is evidence that the phrase was so popular in 1920 that people couldn’t even be bothered to say the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/30 "2018-09-12T00:27:58Z")
Unfuck you! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/31 "2018-09-12T05:04:31Z")
I don’t see any reason why the origins couldn’t be nonsexual, but people assumed it was sexual, and thus amplified it by saying “sucks a dick” and such. I also note that my first exposure to it well predates my learning that homosexuals even existed, or that oral sex was called “sucking” or “blow jobs.” It was just a slight pejorative in the 1990s, like _butt_ or _crap_. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/32 "2018-09-12T14:41:02Z")
A “consensus” that oral sex (even heterosexual) is “good,” is rather recent. Sodomy laws and all. There was a marked increase in heterosexual oral sex from the 30s to 60s according to the Kinsey reports. It was famously mainstreamed by the movie Deep Throat in 1972. In any case, I have always believed that “sucks” as a negative originated from a shortening of “sucks eggs” rather than “sucks dick”. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/33 "2018-09-12T17:07:17Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Precisely. My late colleague told me that when he escaped from Germany in 1939, age 16, one of the first things he saw in London was a large sign painted on the side of a building that said “Fuck Hitler”. He know enough English to understand what it said, but he could not imagine why anyone would wish a pleasurable act to Hitler. The sign didn’t say “Hitler should fuck someone”, it was saying “someone should fuck Hitler”, and the “with no lube” was understood. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/34 "2018-09-12T17:29:08Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Conversely, “eating” pussy makes more sense (to me at least) than “sucking” dick. I’m curious as to the origins of the phrase. In what other context does “eating” just mean “lick vigorously”\*? Good fellatio can absolutely involve an amount of actual sucking, even though it mainly just _looks_ like the penis is being sucking into the mouth. \*Don’t just “lick vigorously”, I’m just not including a long a precise manual for cunnilingus in this post. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/35 "2018-09-12T19:37:59Z")
> [@naita](#): > > \*Don’t just “lick vigorously”, I’m just not including a long a precise manual for cunnilingus in this post. Will you be providing it in another post? Perhaps a Youtube video where you explain your cunnilingus techniques via interpretive dance? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/36 "2018-09-12T19:47:45Z")
Bart Simpson: “I didn’t think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows.” Re. “fuck”: according to the _Oxford Dictionary of English_, the root of this word means “to strike”, i.e., saying “fuck such-and-such” is literally wishing them violence, which makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/37 "2018-09-12T20:09:50Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > A “consensus” that oral sex (even heterosexual) is “good,” is rather recent. Sodomy laws and all. You have to distinguish between being good and being legal. If people didn’t enjoy receiving oral sex, there would have been no need to enact laws against it. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/38 "2018-09-12T20:26:56Z")
“Fuck you” implies unwanted sex with violence. Think “Rape you!”. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/39 "2018-09-16T21:21:59Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Will you be providing it in another post? Perhaps a Youtube video where you explain your cunnilingus techniques via interpretive dance? Already did. You can probably find it by googling interpretive dance cunnilingus. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111/40 "2018-09-17T15:40:07Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Already did. You can probably find it by googling interpretive dance cunnilingus. Monday night plans - confirmed! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-saying-something-sucks-mean-its-bad/821111.md?page=3)