What is the origin of the urban slang 'Bite me'?

Answer 1

The origin of "bite me" is pretty raunchy. In the late Forties and early Fifties a popular exclamation among teenage boys who wanted to indicate their extreme disapproval with statements or actions made by other teenage boys and sometimes adults, such as teachers, was "suck my dick!" Of course, they never actually said such a thing directly to a teacher. They told their friends that they would like to tell Mr. Jones, the math teacher, to "suck my dick!" But they never actually did so.

Possibly, it was homophobic, since no male in 1950 wanted to be thought of as a "homo", the then popular term for someone who was gay. If you said "suck my dick" to another male the implication was that your interlocutor was a "homo". Interestingly, "homo" was usually preceded by the word "little", as in you "little homo!" So the complete expression was usually: "Suck my dick, you little homo!"

The expression gave rise to two other expressions: "You suck!"; or the ubiquitous "It sucks!". In the last several years "bite me" has emerged as a cleaned up and shorthand version of "suck my dick!" It has in fact become so sanitized that I've heard talk show hosts on the radio use the expression without feeling their jobs were in jeopardy.

In any event "bite me" has become one of those oft used expression to express extreme disbelief or indicate that the speaker has a very contrary opinion. One thing is certain, "bite me", is not an urban expression. I've heard it in the hills of Kentucky.

(In the pilot episode of the TV series "ALIAS," Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is held captive by a mysterious Chinese torturer known as "Suit & Glasses" (played by Ric Young). When he demands that she tell him who she works for she tells him to get a pen and "Write this down: E-M-E-T-I-B. Got that? Now reverse it."

When he does so, the letters spell "BITE ME." This of course, leads to Sydney having her back teeth pulled sans anesthesia...