- This article should be transwikied to Wiktionary
This article describes the use of the verb "suck" as a term to express displeasure at someone or something, or to indicate a low level of quality or competence. This use originated as American slang in the 20th century. See suction for other meanings of the word.
"Sucks" as profanity
The term "sucks" originated from a family of decidedly vulgar dysphemisms invoking oral sex (such as "that sucks dick," a relative of the insult "cocksucker") but as it became divorced from the sexual meaning (normally used intransitively) it progressed from profane status to that of slightly impolite slang. It is used mainly in two contexts: To indicate unpleasantness or low quality ("the weather sucks today") or to indicate a low level of competency ("John Doe sucks at public speaking") that have no relation to the sexual meaning.
In the more classical context of reference to suction, "sucks" does not, and never did, have any profane status. To describe a vacuum as "sucking up dirt" or to claim that a hobby "sucks up my time" has never been considered objectionable.
Fellatio-invocative phrases such as "that sucks dick" or "that sucks a big one" are still considered vulgar.
Other forms
To describe something as "sucky" is equivalent to saying that "it sucks".
Ambiguity
Much of why "sucks" has lost much of its profane status is that it is sometimes expanded in a non-sexual way ("that sucks like a vacuum," "that sucks a moldy sock"). A common genre of non-sexual expansion of "sucks" is to invoke an elongated vegetable, e.g. "that sucks zucchini."
Relatives
Many other slang terms and neologisms related to "sucks" exist:
- Bites: This emerged as a bowdlerization of "sucks," similar to "crap" for "shit." Today, "sucks" and "bites" are considered roughly equal in vulgarity. The insult "go bite yourself" is a less-vulgar form of "go blow yourself," itself a less-vulgar form of "go fuck yourself" or "fuck you," but is considered more vulgar than either "sucks" or "bites."
- Blows: A literal substitute for "sucks"; a common use is "that blows". Also a bowdlerization of "sucks," though it is not clear why "blows" would be less vulgar, since "blowjob" is a vulgar term for oral sex.
- Rims: A more-dysphemistic form of "sucks" invoking analingus.
- SuX0r: The "leet" slang equivalent of "sucks."
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