DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Even Greener Pastures
HTML https://evengreener.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Questions about the Use of Language
*****************************************************
#Post#: 17233--------------------------------------------------
To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: Aliph Date: June 28, 2019, 4:36 am
---------------------------------------------------------
To me it sound a bit... vulgar since I have unspeakable
associations in other languages about this verb.
I saw that some of you ladies used. I do not understand the
meaning of this phrase “ I keep getting told that I suck at
languages.“ google is of no use.
#Post#: 17234--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: Irena Date: June 28, 2019, 5:03 am
---------------------------------------------------------
To suck at something means to be terrible at it.
#Post#: 17236--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: NealC Date: June 28, 2019, 5:27 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Irena is absolutely right in definition, but in use it is a
borderline word.
When I was a kid there were families that thought any use of
that word was obscene, so you had to censor yourself
accordingly. At my house it was ok to use, but it was always a
kid's slang. I suck, you suck, this sucks.
Things are a bit looser today but I think there are better ways
to express yourself as the word or phrase can sound grating.
Among close friends it can be a useful way to express sympathy -
one friend describes something bad that happened at work or in
their private life and another can say "That sucks!", but the
use where it fits is very narrow and it is easy to sound
childish using it.
Finally, it might sound silly, but one way to evaluate a word or
phrase is "Would I hear this in a newscast?". Would a public
official or a teacher use the word in an official statement or
in a class? The answer on suck would be no, there is too much
baggage in the word.
Have fun!
#Post#: 17245--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: Irena Date: June 28, 2019, 6:11 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=NealC link=topic=1184.msg17236#msg17236
date=1561717649]
Finally, it might sound silly, but one way to evaluate a word or
phrase is "Would I hear this in a newscast?". Would a public
official or a teacher use the word in an official statement or
in a class? The answer on suck would be no, there is too much
baggage in the word.
[/quote]
But I could totally imagine Trump using it on Twitter. Maybe he
already has(?).
#Post#: 17246--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: NealC Date: June 28, 2019, 6:23 am
---------------------------------------------------------
:-)
Maybe so.
But then knowing how Sofia feels about our beloved President, I
doubt she wants to sound like him :-)
#Post#: 17249--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: Truman Overby Date: June 28, 2019, 8:32 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=NealC link=topic=1184.msg17246#msg17246
date=1561721002]
:-)
Maybe so.
But then knowing how Sofia feels about our beloved President, I
doubt she wants to sound like him :-)
[/quote]
Some people hide their true feelings behind a mask of dislike.
;)
#Post#: 17265--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: SHL Date: June 28, 2019, 2:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Sofia link=topic=1184.msg17233#msg17233
date=1561714589]
To me it sound a bit... vulgar since I have unspeakable
associations in other languages about this verb.
I saw that some of you ladies used. I do not understand the
meaning of this phrase “ I keep getting told that I suck at
languages.“ google is of no use.
[/quote]
Neal gave a good answer, and Irena did too. But, suck is one of
those context-driven words. So, it can mean a lot of different
things. You can suck at something, like Irena said, i.e., be a
flop at doing something, or it can mean a bad outcome. Or, it
can definitely have a vulgar meaning, used the right way, within
the right context and with the right words. We all know what
THAT meaning would refer to.
But, it’s overall a fairly benign word in its general use. For
example, if Icelandair doesn’t give me my upgrade to Sage Class,
after I bid on it, THAT would really suck big time!
I don’t know if things have changed, but we didn’t use that word
growing up as kids. My parents wouldn’t have liked it, I don’t
think. But, that was the 60s. Unless you were using it in its
polite normal sense, like sucking your cool-aid through a straw,
I didn’t hear it that much. But, then I started hearing it all
the time in the 80s, and it started to lose it’s pizazz. But,
since it is colloquial you shouldn’t really hear it on TV or see
it written (forget youtube news-anything goes there).
But, if you stick with just “I suck at that” or “if Steven
doesn’t get his airline Saga Class upgrade to the Fatherland (as
Neal and Jerry like to call it) that will REALLY suck” -which we
all agree on- you will be fine. No one will misunderstand what
you mean.
#Post#: 17269--------------------------------------------------
Re: To suck : I don’t know how to use this verb
By: SHL Date: June 28, 2019, 4:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Sofia link=topic=1184.msg17233#msg17233
date=1561714589]
To me it sound a bit... vulgar since I have unspeakable
associations in other languages about this verb.
I saw that some of you ladies used. I do not understand the
meaning of this phrase “ I keep getting told that I suck at
languages.“ google is of no use.
[/quote]
Just as a little footnote, suck is so commonly used, and
normally in a colloquial non-offensive way, that it has to make
the list of one of the most-used English words there are, at
least in its figurative sense. It’s so common, it reminds me a
lot of the German Scheiße, or Scheiß-(with something added to
it).
So, you can vulgarize the word easily, and people do all the
time. Like you can say, “That’s a really suck-a s s situation.”
I’ve heard that a thousand times. And, I’m sure Neal, Jerry and
Susan have too. Of course it’s colloquial and bordering a
little on the vulgar side, but very common. And there are other
words its mixed up with too, to even make it more vulgar and
still keep its figurative use.
And, I’ve noticed people do like to use it in combination. You
could say, for example, “As a piano teacher she sucks.” But, a
lot of people would just say “She’s a suck-ass piano teacher to
spice it up a bit.
Maybe I’ve just hung around with too many crude people in my
life, but I have heard that word used in combination more times
than I can remember.
*****************************************************