Not give a flying fuck

Not give a flying fuck expresses extreme indifference to whatever might be under consideration. There are two theories about its origin and both are very dubious. The first is that a flying fuck is having sex on horseback, which seems both improbable and uncomfortable, yet some sources date this usage from c.1800. The second theory is that it derives from rhyming slang, flying duck/fuck, except of course that the expression is not ‘not give a flying fuck’ rather than ‘not give a flying duck’, in which case why bother with rhyming in the first place? The most plausible explanation is that it derives from simply ‘not give a fuck’ which dates from at least the late 18th century. From about this time onwards, people were generally happy not to give a fuck about certain issues until the mid-20th century when the word ‘flying’ was added as an alliterative intensifier. Some sources give James Jones’ book From Here to Eternity, published in 1951, as the first citation for not give a flying fuck.