I actually learned something today:
Word History: The obscenity *uck is a very old word, first recorded in English in the 15th century. Age has not dimmed its shock value, even though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in a poem entitled ?Flen flyys? written sometime before 1500, is in code, illustrating the unacceptability of the word even then. The poem, composed in a mixture of Latin and English, satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, with the title taken from the first words of the poem, ?Flen, flyys, and freris,? that is, ?fleas, flies, and friars.? The line that contains *uck reads ?Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk.? The Latin words ?Non sunt in coeli, quia? mean ?they [the friars] are not in heaven, since.? The code ?gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk? is easily broken by simply writing the preceding letter in the alphabet. As we decode, we must watch for differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now. For g write f; for x, v (used for u and v); d, c; b, a; o, n; v, t; xx, vv (which equals w); k, i; x, v; z, y; t, s; p, o; g, f; i, h; f, e; m, l; and for k, i. This yields ?fvccant [a fake Latin form] vvivys of heli.? The whole thus reads in translation: ?They are not in heaven because they *uck wives of Ely [a town near Cambridge].?
So, next time your friends/spouse says *uck, you tell them its history
)
Word History: The obscenity *uck is a very old word, first recorded in English in the 15th century. Age has not dimmed its shock value, even though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in a poem entitled ?Flen flyys? written sometime before 1500, is in code, illustrating the unacceptability of the word even then. The poem, composed in a mixture of Latin and English, satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, with the title taken from the first words of the poem, ?Flen, flyys, and freris,? that is, ?fleas, flies, and friars.? The line that contains *uck reads ?Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk.? The Latin words ?Non sunt in coeli, quia? mean ?they [the friars] are not in heaven, since.? The code ?gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk? is easily broken by simply writing the preceding letter in the alphabet. As we decode, we must watch for differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now. For g write f; for x, v (used for u and v); d, c; b, a; o, n; v, t; xx, vv (which equals w); k, i; x, v; z, y; t, s; p, o; g, f; i, h; f, e; m, l; and for k, i. This yields ?fvccant [a fake Latin form] vvivys of heli.? The whole thus reads in translation: ?They are not in heaven because they *uck wives of Ely [a town near Cambridge].?
So, next time your friends/spouse says *uck, you tell them its history
)
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