anyone know the origin of this phrase?

February 16, 2007 9:04 PM

Where does the phrase "I fuc*ing concur." come from?

Where does the phrase "I fucking concur." come from?

Is it from a book? Or is it an internet meme? What?

posted by exlotuseater to Writing & Language (17 answers total)

I don't know it with the F part, but in "Catch Me If You Can," DiCaprio's con man character stands around an operating room where he's pretending to be a doctor and asks other doctors if they concur with the other's diagnosis. (Since DiCaprio himself doesn't know how to diagnose anything.)

Then one of the doctors curses himself for not concuring fast enough.

DiCaptio's character got the "concur" bit from watching Dr. Kildare.

You can read it in the script if you search on "concur."
posted by GaelFC at 9:19 PM on February 16, 2007

I think people have been using "fucking" as an adjective and adverb for a long, long time... I don't know if you'll be able to get a definitive answer on its first use.
posted by amyms at 9:21 PM on February 16, 2007

I'd agree with amyms, unless you are trying to think of a very specific and unique situation I don't see how this can be attributable to any one person, it is like asking who said "big fucking deal" first.
posted by edgeways at 10:10 PM on February 16, 2007

I fucking concur with amyms.
posted by sanko at 10:44 PM on February 16, 2007

Sounds like Deadwood to me.
posted by Justinian at 10:58 PM on February 16, 2007

I fucking concur with Justinian -- this sounds like a Deadwood-ism. However, a search of the episode transcripts here comes up empty (though the search function or the fan-produced transcripts themselves could be faulty).
posted by Urban Hermit at 11:04 PM on February 16, 2007

They had the phrase "I concur..." a number of times in Crimson Tide, but I don't believe any of them involved the f-bomb.
posted by allkindsoftime at 11:17 PM on February 16, 2007

Bart Simpson says "I concur" in "Bart's Road Trip", when Milhouse, Nelson and Martin Prince all lobby for Knoxville as their destination.
posted by essexjan at 11:54 PM on February 16, 2007

I don't know the answer, but 'I concur' is an expression often found in legal judgements, and indicates that the judge agrees with one of the other judges on the bench. The origin could be legal (although the 'fucking' is probably not from an actual judgement).
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 12:15 AM on February 17, 2007

Response by poster: I dunno folks. It only returns 35 hits from google (some of which are, oddly enough, our jimbob), and I feel like I read it in a book somewhere a long time ago; somewhere in a semi-comedic dialogue. It's not nearly as common as a phrase like "big fucking deal" which returns ~108,000 hits. Obviously, "bfd" is a much more common colloquial expression, whereas "ifc" is limited by the "concur" part. This is partially what makes it so funny-- it's a juxtaposition of high diction with low.

I could be way off base here, but I feel like while it may be an expression used somewhat often, it may be traceable through popular culture.

Keep the answers coming!
posted by exlotuseater at 1:51 AM on February 17, 2007

Is it a from Tarantino film?
posted by dash_slot- at 2:42 AM on February 17, 2007

dash_slot, i was wondering the same thing...the first thing that popped into my mind was reservoir dogs. but i really can't place it and don't know if i've even seen it in a movie for sure. for some reason i imagine christopher walken saying it, but it might just be similar to a lot of things his characters tend to say.
posted by lgyre at 6:53 AM on February 17, 2007

It does sound like a good Walkenism.

I think we've got ourselves the next meme/cool phrase here. Let's ride this wave!

Does everybody fucking concur?
posted by altcountryman at 7:47 AM on February 17, 2007

If it were Deadwood, it'd be "I fucking concur you mis'able cocksucker!"

"I concur" was a common Riker/Picard thing on ST:TNG as well.
posted by jimfl at 8:27 AM on February 17, 2007

In my head I'm picturing it being said by a woman in either a tv show or movie. I don't know if this is an actual memory or if I'm imagining it but my gut says it's relatively recent.
posted by TwoWordReview at 10:52 AM on February 17, 2007

Seems like something Richard E. Grant would say in Withnail & I
posted by travis08 at 2:45 PM on February 17, 2007

"I concur" was a common Howard Cosell thing too.
posted by reidfleming at 4:27 PM on February 17, 2007