dragon@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Brad J. Sagarin) (10/06/86)
The word "fuck" does indeed come from the British legal system. It was an
abbreviation for "Fornicational Use of Carnal Knowledge".
An interesting (and often hilarious) discussion on the use of profanity can
be found in _An Anatomy_of_Dirty_Words_, by Edward Sagarin. Prof. Sagarin
submitted it as a sociology PhD thesis in the early 60's and it was promptly
rejected due to the subject matter. _The_Anatomy_ was subsequently published
and created quite a stir at the time (though much of it seems tame by today's
standards). Anyway, it is amusing and enlightening reading and highly
recommended by this impartial :-) reader (Prof. Sagarin is my grandfather).
- Brad
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