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The complimentary or pejorative word "motherfucker" -- its origins?

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Motherfucker - the word itself. Complimentary or pejorative.

Where did it come from?

― Lucius, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Slovenia. I thought everybody knew that?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

thebes, i thought.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Fucking mothers, dude.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

Why don't people name their kids Lucius anymore?

― Lars and Jagger (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

luscious jackson?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:46 (nineteen years ago)

Lucius Malfoy. Lucius Gaius Cassius Claudius Germanic Nero.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

Germanicus, make that.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

Lucius Fox!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

Nickalucius

― Lars and Jagger (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

I still remember Luscious Jackson being on the Tonight Show once and Jay Leno saying "and musical guest ... Lucius Jackson! He's great!"

So much comedy and tragedy wrapped up in two words, one ill-fated attempt to just maybe pretend he had any idea who the guest was!

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

― StanM (StanM), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

nitsuh i think he was making a joke

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

The Portuguese translation is rather unimaginative.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

WTF, Ethan, are you seriously claiming you saw this and remember his tone? Cause dude, he was not joking. He read "Luscious Jackson" off the teleprompter as "Lucius Jackson." He concluded that a musical guest named Lucius Jackson would probably be a man. (I think most of us would put bets on a musician named Lucius Jackson being an older black man.) And so, because he had nothing in particular to say about this act that he didn't recognize, he offered the generic "he's great," which was meant to imply familiarity -- but which, what with the "he," actually confirmed the opposite.

Curse you for tempting me to explain why I found something funny.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

I have a vague memory of reading something about Vietnam -- either Thom Jones, Vonnegut or Tim O'Brien, in which the narrator talks about how a certain character said motherfucker and how that was still a pretty serious thing to say at the time.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha hook line and... ethan.

xpost

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

is still is a serious thing to say, if you say it to somebody

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

i remember meeting some young german couple in edinburgh, scotland 10 years ago. for some reason, they asked me what i thought the worst word in the english language was. i told them "motherfucker." the german lady made this real sour face after i said that, and then said in her german accent: "a person who fucks zayr mother -- that eez so NASTY!"

later that same night, we went to some nightclub and there was some (really bad) comedienne from glasgow -- none of us could understand a damn thing she said except "motherfucker." the same german lady then turned to me and said, "oh, she just used that word! motherfucker!!"

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

sorry i try to keep leno-mocking in threads about hating on robin williams movies

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

is still is a serious thing to say, if you say it to somebody

well, would YOU want someone to call YOU a "motherfucker"?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

i call ppl that all the time!! its affectionate

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

generally if i hate you i say bitch or aaaaaasshole

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

w/ long aaaaah

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

It kinda depends how hot your mom is.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

evelyn lucius abebe! shes great!

― oooh, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, it's all in the delivery. if you call somebody an asshole to their face and really mean it, i mean that is fuckin rough

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

fuck, "motherfucker" actually is complimentary sometimes.. not just in the affectionate way oooh says but we've all seen the scene where the detective shows up 5 minutes too late, stoops down to retrieve the oily rag from the ground, stands up, looks towards the exit door banging lazily open and closed in the wind and saying under his breath "you mother fucker" with utmost respect

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

Why does it have to be one's mother that is being fucked? Why can't it be someone else's mother? Then a large amount of the sexually active male population would qualify. It would be normal to be a motherfucker.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

my friends use it all time with some amount of respect

― anthony easton (anthony), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

Your friends are a bunch of fucking fags.

Discus.

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

Anthony, I thought this was: "retarded"

Sorry!!!

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

what did i do to deserve that?

― anthony easton (anthony), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

Nobody names their kid "Oedipus" any more.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 8 December 2005 01:23 (nineteen years ago)

> I have a vague memory of reading something about Vietnam -- either Thom Jones, Vonnegut or Tim O'Brien, in which the narrator talks about how a certain character said motherfucker and how that was still a pretty serious thing to say at the time.

Vonnegut, in Slaughterhouse Five, and WWII, not Vietnam.

You motherfucker.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 8 December 2005 01:41 (nineteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherfucker

Motherfucker (also contracted forms mother and mofo and, phonetically, in African American Vernacular English, muthafucka) is a common insult and profanity in the English language and is widely considered obscene and inappropriate. By virtue of its history of usage, motherfucker generally is regarded as African-American in origin. Literally, it accuses one of violating perhaps the oldest taboo known to humankind, incest. However, as with most epithets, its use is pejorative, rather than literal. Historically, it was a vicious taunt, a damning insult -- and a veiled allusion to the destruction of black male familial hegemony under chattel slavery. The power of the word was that it attacked one's sense of manhood. The cause of countless barroom brawls and streetfights, it is purported to have sparked at least one prison riot. Regardless of its historical or cultural context, however, many consider motherfucker one of the most offensive profanities. "Delete Expletives", a study published in 2000, found that British people consider it second only to cunt in severity.

Motherfucker has taken on additional meanings through continued use, its evolution being shaped primarily by, again, the African-American community. It has come to mean a formidable or inexorable force, as in the threat: "Payback is a bitch, but revenge is a muthafucka." It is also an expletive expression of disgust or contempt: "Now, ain't that a muthafucka!" Motherfucker also has come to be used in some circles as a general pronoun or synonym for "thing" or "person".

The initials M.F. became a common, more polite substitute for motherfucker, as did the term Maryland farmer in the 1960s and 1970s. The result is an oft-recounted, if apocryphal, tale of the clueless Maryland Farmers Association writing a letter of protest to a prominent African-American in the news. It seems he called a Capitol Hill politician a "jive Maryland farmer," and the association's members were mightily offended.

The growing use of motherfucker in popular culture may mean the term through time has become less offensive to some, but some see its increasing ubiquity as a sign of the general coarsening of society.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 8 December 2005 01:43 (nineteen years ago)

"You Sexy Maryland Farmer"

No, just doesn't work.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 8 December 2005 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

the russians have had an insult that is the equivalent of "motherfucker" for 100s of years.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 8 December 2005 02:50 (nineteen years ago)

I think I most often use it in a complimentary sense a la bad or sick, like "that drummer's a motherfucker."

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 8 December 2005 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

I mostly use it as an exclamation a la SHIT!

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 8 December 2005 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

a veiled allusion to the destruction of black male familial hegemony under chattel slavery.

do we think this is true?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 8 December 2005 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

i hate motherfucking wikipedia

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

all my students use it for their papers (against my advice in some cases)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 8 December 2005 06:06 (nineteen years ago)

this encyclopedia employee is sad at that news.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 8 December 2005 06:28 (nineteen years ago)

i used to liberally sprinkle "motherfucker" throughout my school papers. i don't see what's so wrong with it.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 8 December 2005 06:31 (nineteen years ago)

Miles Davis, judging by his autobiography, used the word as a stand-in for ANY WORD HE MOTHERFUCKIN' FELT LIKE USING IT FOR.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 8 December 2005 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

I used to know the russian term for "Motherfucker" (IIRC it was actually "fuck your mother") but I've forgotten it.

I called someone a motherfucker for real the other week. Some fucking radgie shithead. I was ready to step up to the fucker, but I went and called the police instead.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 8 December 2005 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

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