squick

English

Etymology

Seemingly phonaesthetic, formed of squ- as in squirm and -ick as in ick. Originated in the Usenet newsgroup alt.sex.bondage; popularized primarily in the newsgroup alt.tasteless.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪk

Noun

squick (countable and uncountable, plural squicks)

1. (slang) A source of individual psychological discomfort; something that repels one.
   • 1991 September 18, <wi.853@wizvax.methuen.ma.us>, “Do-it-yourself nipple clamps”, in alt.sex.bondage‎^[1] (Usenet), retrieved 2020-03-09:

     HEY!!!! This goes a little too far for even me! Applicable nanotechnology like that won't happen until at least 3 years from now and nuclear = squick in my book.

   • 1993 June 19, Ulf Kastner, “how 'bout a squick.gif”, in alt.tasteless (Usenet):

     since it is pretty hard to find two people on such pics in the proper positions i ask those of you interested in the creation of this to keep yer eyes open for good source material. send me anything... suggestions, own ideas of how the squick should look like (het, gay, lesb (with plastic dildo or something)), reactions to this idea, material, whatever...

   • 1999 April 22, Spork Boy, “nostril squick”, in rec.arts.bodyart (Usenet):

     nostril squick. I think I'd want a bigger ball..

   • 2002, Jo Leigh, Scent of a Woman, page 82:

     One man's turn-on is another's squick. But, if she chickened out now, the whole plan would fall apart.

   • 2004, Ken MacLeod, Newton's Wake: A Space Opera, page 88:

     We maintain, as you did in your time, the cultural squick about internal interfaces with networked machinery, and about data capture, for obvious reasons.

   • 2019, Fritzi Kramer, Movies Silently:

     I don’t recommend doing so, I am reasonably certain there is enough squick in those pictures to get us on some kind of watchlist.

Translations

source of individual psychological discomfort

• German: Ekel (de) m

Verb

squick (third-person singular simple present squicks, present participle squicking, simple past and past participle squicked)

1. (slang, transitive) To gross out, to disgust.
   • 2005, Russ Kick, Everything You Know about Sex Is Wrong, page 296:

     Queer men, on the other hand, insist on shoving our very own flesh up each other's poop chutes, and that squicks numerous straight men—the ones who aren't doing their girlfriends up the ass anyhow.

2. (slang, intransitive) To be grossed out, to experience disgust.
   • 2005, Maxim Jakubowski, The Mammoth Book of Sex Diaries: Online Confessions and Call-Girl Adventures, page 27:

     He likes intense sensation (pain, for those of you not up on this lingo) and we did play with sounds. I'll now explain what "sounds" are, but if you squick easily, you should skip this next paragraph.

3. (slang, transitive) To sexually penetrate a disgusting part of the head, such as an eye-socket
   • 1991 April 23, Matthew Harelick, “Squicking?”, in alt.tasteless‎^[2] (Usenet):

     I've heard it said that squicking is one of those activities that people do not talk about in a public forum.

   • 1992 April 27, Douglass Glen Whitman, alt.folklore.urban (Usenet):

     Every now and then somebody on the alt.tasteless line mentions a certain perversion known as "squicking" which I assume is an urban legend. This act is similar to skull-fucking (intercourse with the socket of somebody's empty eyesocket, another act which I assume to be an UL), but instead of plucking out an eyeball, the perpetrator trephans the skull and thrusts between the hemispheres of the brain (incidentally killing the recipient).

   • 1994 November 5, David M. Schaefer, “Mr. Squick”, in alt.tasteless (Usenet):

     Now that Halloween is over, I was just wondering, how many of you out there couldn't resist the urge to cut your Jack-O(ff)-Lantern with a squick hole

   • 2002 July 22, Kadaitcha Man, “An argument for squicking”, in alt.support.shyness (Usenet):

     A proper squicking requires you to trephine your partner (make a hole in your partners skull) and pork its brain this way.

   • 2007 September 15, Fred Oinka, “Squick”, in 3do.bad-attitude (Usenet):

     I wanna squick you baby with my bowling shoes on

Usage notes

• The term squick (in the noun sense and the first two verb senses) is often used to delineate a distinction between things (especially sexual practices or fetishes) that are harmful or immoral and things that are merely off-putting. It emphasizes that the speaker does not condemn but is simply expressing their personal opinion.

Hyponyms

• (penetrate part of a head): skull-fuck

Derived terms

• squickage
• squickery
• squickiness
• squicky

 

Related terms

• squig out

Translations

to experience disgust

• German: ekeln (de)

Anagrams

• Quicks, quicks