It's just that "sucks" to my ears is almost as bad as the others, yet used all the time by kids today who have no idea, probably, of its provenance (did you have time to read the article?)
Yes, I did, but it didn't say to me that oral sex was the origin, but I interpreted his remark differently.
"There is an assumption that 'sucks' was a reference to oral sex," explains Jesse Sheidlower, editor-at-large of the Oxford English Dictionary. Some scholars debate this, but Sheidlower says perception is what matters. {emphases added}
So he isn't splaining that that IS what it means, just that it's what many
think it means, even if it doesn't!
"Suck" [b]may sound edgy or obnoxious to middle-aged ears, but parents may be at a loss to explain why it's a bad word, especially to an 8- or 9-year-old. "It brings up a conversation you might not want to have right now," says Sheidlower.
Herein lies your discomfort, I believe. "Suck" sounds, spells and spits out much like its brother, "f-ck". I think that, more than what the derivation may be, is why it bothers your ears!
I found this interesting discussion on another site, which offers several alternative derivations which seem plausible:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/archive/index.php/t-5628.html :0)
