To 'suck up'

Posted by R. Berg on May 24, 2001

In Reply to: To 'suck up' posted by Bruce Kahl on May 24, 2001

: : We have a particularly hot spell here in the UK - upper 20sC, around 80F. This on top of all the electioneering going on!. Never-the-less, the politicking has thrown up a phrase on a regular basis when various politicians are accused of 'sucking up' to this or other faction. There's no good origin in any of my reference books, only analogies to 'bootlicking' etc. There seems nothing in the archive. Any idea of the origin, anyone? The phrase is quoted as' mid 19c'. so it's fairly old.

: I see a baby sucking up nutrients from a bottle just as George W. Bush has sucked up his "nutrients" from the US oil, banking and drug companies.

:
: "Whatever it took to help Taiwan defend theirself."-George W. Bush,On how far we'd be willing to go to defend Taiwan, Good Morning America, April 25, 2001

The history of the term isn't that respectable. Entry for "suck up to [someone]" from the Dictionary of American Slang: "To curry favor with someone by being exceptionally agreeable, or by doing menial jobs for that person." This definition is followed by a cross-reference to another phrase, nearby in the alphabet, whose meaning makes clear that "suck up to" implies an exchange of sexual services for some sort of reward.

• To 'suck up' James Briggs 05/25/01
  • Sucker R. Berg 05/25/01
  • To 'suck up' ESC 05/25/01
    • Wee wee wee R. Berg 05/26/01