cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/questions/p/1209070/what-is-the-origin-of-fuck-you-use-as-a-insult
How does “fuck you” work as insult? What is the origin?
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The word itself is ancient, and cognates in other European languages are used the same way. To go outside the region and language family, the Chinese version is “fuck your mother”.
Sex is a common topic of profanity around the world, and the way things are referenced in a set expression often won’t make literal sense. So in other words, it’s probably a phrase that’s appeared over and over again since we evolved.
As old as people. I bet when we crack Linear A that will be one the phrases.
Other languages have very different profanity, though.
Care to share? For educational purposes.
Off the top of my head, Dutch has pretty disease-centric profanity, and Quebec French has the sacres, which are basically just things found in a church.
I mean, sex is a very common subject, and OP was probably right that (translations of) that exact phrase occurs from time to time all the way back, but it’s far from a constant.
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