I have several quotes of late-19th-century speech (by British men) which use the abbreviation “d-d” for a word. I’m not sure what it means, but from the context I assume this is profanity of some sort. Here’s an example: It was you brought me up this d-d hill. Any ideas? Answer The word here really … Read more
Fruitcake is an insulting word for someone who you think is strange or crazy (the Macmillan Dictionary). Why does the word have this meaning? What is the similarity between a strange person and a heavy cake containing dried fruit? Answer The answer may be connected to the expression “nutty as a fruitcake.” Christine Ammer, The … Read more
Excuse me for the following, I don’t want to offend anybody. But who could answer my question if not the native speakers? How should we know the depths of the culture with its mays and maynots? I wanted to tell my friend a joke, but I didn’t know which word would be a correct one. … Read more
When/how did the word “bullshit” or the phrase “I call bullshit” (or its multiple variants) become acceptable in English? Was it a direct adaptation from another language or was it introduced in some other manner? (Please note that I am just referring to the use of the term in everyday general banter as questioning disbelief … Read more
There is a funny LICENSE and in this license used an expression: You just DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO as long as you NEVER LEAVE A TRACE TO TRACK THE AUTHOR of the original product. Is an author right with do what the fuck? Maybe is it more correct to use do whatever … Read more
This was a question posed by a friend. I’m myself curious of the answer. I apologize for the explicit content (I left it as is to remove ambiguity). I pretty sure that ‘a yuppy fu@k’ is a compound noun in the local slang, but I’m not sure, just like the author of the question, of … Read more
In other words,why Mike Judge named one of characters “Beavis”? Was there also some slang meaning or word play behind it as in “Butthead”? Answer There was a kid in Mike Judge’s neighborhood when he was growing up named Bobby Beavis, according to him in this interview. A Google search of pre-1993 books will show … Read more
In English, there is no generally acceptable verb for someone to say the equivalent of “to sex.” All our equivalents are either too vulgar (“to fuck”, “to bang”, “to smash”) or too formal (“to copulate”, “to reproduce”) for use in everyday speech. The most general term, “to have sex,” separates the subject from the act … Read more
Sometimes expletive sentences contains these words, for example “I’ll beat the hell/crap out of him” Answer In the expression the hell out of, “the hell” (lower case) is used to emphasize the action you are referring to: Used in verbal phrases to emphasize force, speed, etc. The hell has a long history in idiomatic expressions … Read more
I am writing a poem for school. The verse with the word I need to change is this: 7 hours is too long In much too short a day You really don’t care if you get an answer wrong Because you don’t care a _____ about radioactive decay The only thing I can think of … Read more
