Originally posted by Kalleh:You might know the OED has it as "chiefly American."
The word is rarely used over here, although of course most people know of it from American media imports. Whether that's a good or a bad thing I leave to you to decide.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
It's "mofo" I've not heard before (at least I don't remember hearing it); I've heard "motherfucker" often enough.
I don't think I've led a sheltered life, Tinman. Heck, I used to bring students into homeless shelters in Chicago to provide health care and teaching. I just haven't heard of "mofo."
I, too, thought you meant motherfucker. That's why I said you lead a sheltered life.
Earlier you had said, "You might know the OED has it as 'chiefly American'." You were responding to the article in Proof's post. That article said
quote:
Motherfucker is “chiefly N. Amer.” in origin, says the OED, whose earliest citation, dated 1918, is from a letter (written by a World War I-era pacifist, perhaps?) to the Journal of American History: “You low-down Mother Fuckers can put a gun in your hands but who is able to take it out?”
I've never heard of MoFo before, either. The article said it first appeared in 1965 as a "partial euphemism" for motherfucker. What the hell is a partial euphemism? How does it differ from a complete euphemism?
quote:
At the other end of the dignity spectrum lies the venerable law firm Morrison & Foerster, founded in San Francisco in 1883 and now maintaining offices all over the world. For decades, employees (and possibly some rival lawyers) have informally shortened the firm’s name to “MoFo”–a partial euphemism for motherfucker that first appeared in print in 1965, in Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels.
