Talk:fuck all

Early discussion

Sense of

1. An expression of frustration, anger, or infuriation.

Who says "fuck all" ? You just say fuck!, or fucking hell!.
I'd like to see some verification for this useage. Was put in originally by an "amateur", and subsequently wikified.--Richardb 14:32, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh dear. The first editor calling this expression into question is too American in viewpoint. Being Scottish, I can confirm that this phrase is common parlance in Scotland, used but less common in England. The word "fuck" is commonly used as mere punctuation and in this phrase the "fuck" before "all" is a slight emphasiser, nothing more. It is not aggressive and I would no longer categorise as swearing except in the politest company. Its meaning is described below accurately - "that's fuck all good to me" means "that's no good to me" and "Bastard, it's my birthday and I got fuck all" means "[i'm unhappy] it's my birthday and I didn't get anything". [Walpole1]

Yes, but it's not used alone as an interjection. That's the point here. Equinox ◑ 13:32, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm sure that the interjection meaning is just plain wrong. SemperBlotto 14:47, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I have never heard of this being used as interjection. It means "no". For example you could say "that's fuck all use to me". --Djmac 18:24, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

This is an expression used in the UK to mean "nothing at all" as in, question: "What have you done today?", response: "Fuck all." I think in the US, the equal response would be "Shit." ("What have you done today?" "Shit.) (Unsigned)

I agree with the unsigned comment above. It is fairly frequent in UK and, although I do not swear often, I have used it myself when frustrated and angry (close synonym jack shit which I only recall hearing as an interjection from US people). The reason why we're so sure -- this recent news story about a ridiculous on-the-spot fine: [[1]]. Although bowdlerised by the BBC, other sources, including I think the London Metro, confirmed that the answer given was Fuck all!. Unfortunately, none of those sources seem to be available online. However, I found a comment on a news message board confirming it, and have added that, and another attestation, to the entry. The fact that a policewoman who was passing overheard it, and felt that it constituted abusive or threatening behaviour, suggests that it was said in an emphatic manner, a forceful interjection, as it often is. (BTW, the police saw later saw sense and withdrew the charge, though I can't find that noted online.)

Intriguingly, I also found an MSN Search hit for a rather emphatic "FUCK-ALL!!" on a Cleveland, Ohio blog [[2]] but I could no longer find the target on the blog itself. Enginear 02:37, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't see that this is any different to the noun sense below. Any further thoughts? Andrew massyn 18:13, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

From a central and northeast US perspective, I've always heard it used in the noun sense as a synonym of jack shit, i.e. absolutely nothing or nothing of worth. I started going through the Google Books hits, and the first 200+ hits, until I started getting "this content is restricted" links, all used it in the noun sense, when it was an idiom instead of a part of the phrase "fuck all (some group)" or "fuck. All...". I would support removing the interjection and leaving the noun, and moving the jack shit synonym to the noun sense. Jeffqyzt 03:20, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

I'd be happy with that, but this and other recent posts (eg on adjectives/participles in Latin) remind me of how unsure I am these days about parts of speech. Can anyone recommend an online source of information on this? If so, then we could perhaps note the Wikt deviations from that standard (eg noun phrase/noun), and get greater consistency. --Enginear 09:20, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

OK, I am deleting it from the interjection sense, as the noun sense is the same. Andrew massyn 19:50, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Interjection

fuck all!

1. An expression of frustration, anger, or infuriation at the lack of something.
   • 2003: Bureau of Inverse Technology Inc, The Sparrow Report: London transcripts page on website [[3]] - Caller: "Brown with any other elements that could be used to recognise a sparrow? Other than it being brown and fluffy?" Young Man: "Fuck all".
   • 2006: User mrbester on digg.com website, Teenager Fined $140 For Saying F#ck in Public [[4]] - The conversation was private ("What have you been up to?" "Fuck all", a fairly common conversational opening gambit)

Synonyms

• jack shit

Origin?

We use this a lot in Ireland as in "I've fuck all work done today" but after watching a documentary about South Africa and hearing one a the Afrikaans lads saying "focal" with the subtitle "doing nothing" I wonder does it have its base in German. Maybe someone who speaks Afrikaans or German could help us out here. Oisín

Gaelic

It's from an Irish phrase, and just turned into the English version as a corruption.

Origin, again

Why don't we just go ahead and add the origin of this term (including its first appearances in print and media)? 98.123.38.211 04:28, 25 November 2023 (UTC)