the fuck
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Perhaps modelled after the hell, short for in the hell as in "What in the hell, ...".
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file) Audio (US, as a question): (file)
Phrase
[edit]- (vulgar, slang) Used with an interrogative pronoun as an intensifier to express anger, frustration, incredulity, or other strong emotion.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:the dickens
- 2010 January 28, Stephen Metcalf, “Salinger’s Genius”, in Slate[1], New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-21:
- So the man didn't like publicity; so the fuck what?
- 2011 April 29, Tim Jonze, quoting Cat Deeley, “Nerdy but nice”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-15:
- "Let me get you a glass!" she beams, then drags me to the adjacent room to see her press officer, hairdresser and makeup artist tucking into food and fizz. "Look at this!" she says, mock-appalled at the scene. "Seriously, what the fuck is this about?"
- 2016 June 19, “Brexit” (14:33 from the start), in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver[3], season 3, episode 16, via HBO:
- Poland is depressing and there's vampires in Romania. Spain is far too hot and where the fuck is Lithuania?
- (vulgar, slang) Used after verbs forming a part of a phrasal verb as an intensifier to imply aggressive emphasis.
- Calm the fuck down!
- Back the fuck off!
- Stay the fuck away from me!
- Hurry the fuck up.
- Let's get the fuck out.
- 2004, Pun Plamondon, Lost from the Ottawa, page 84:
- “Get the fuck out of my house!” Sinclair bellowed, his face red, eyes bulging.
- (vulgar, slang, by ellipsis) Used as a shortened form of the common interrogative phrases.
- The fuck did you come from? ― Where the fuck did you come from?
- The fuck do you know all of this!? ― How the fuck do you know all of this?
- The fuck was that? ― What the fuck was that?
- The fuck you think you are?! ― Who the fuck do you think you are?
- The fuck? ― (said incredulously; also as what the fuck?)
- (vulgar, slang) Used to emphatically express that something isn't true.
- —Mom, I'm going out with my friends tonight. —The fuck you are!
- Guess what i'm doing? I’m going to use fake blood to become a badass! The fuck you were!
- Hey! I’m about leave the loud party in this building! The fuck it isn't.
- 1997, Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers, page 88:
- ‘You're not a self-respecting person.’
‘The fuck I ain't,’ the kid said.
- (vulgar, slang, African-American Vernacular) Used to emphasize an adjective; fucking.
- I'm feeling the fuck good today.
- 2005, Daaimah S. Poole, What's Real, New York, N.Y.: Dafina Books, →ISBN, page 113:
- "Not really. It was okay. Fucking Natalie's cousin was down there thinking she was the fuck cute. That bitch came up! She met a fucking dude that play for the damn NFL," I said as I sat down.
- 2016, Ioan Grillo, Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America, New York, N.Y. […]: Bloomsbury Press, →ISBN, page 349:
- Dudley [Althaus] taught me countless things about being a journalist. But the best advice was in three words: "Maybe I'm wrong." You get into a story. You think you have it figured out. But wait, "Maybe I'm the fuck wrong." Then you get deeper into it and discover things you had never thought of.
- 2019, Tonya Williams, Give Them a Reason to Hate You Shawty: A Hood Love Story, Shan Presents, →ISBN, page 161:
- "You can come over whenever you want to. I just got my stuff settled in here. You gon have to mind the place cause I haven't put anything up yet. I stay in Dunwoody. Close to Perimeter," I threw in there, so she would know that I was living the fuck goodt.
- 2023 August 4, @mainbitchclique, Twitter[4], archived from the original on 19 January 2024:
- rihanna ate kiss it better so tf bad
Derived terms
[edit]- dafuq (said incredulously and used for less serious situations)
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]vulgar: intensifier used after interrogative pronouns
vulgar: intensifier forming part of a phrasal verb
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