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Wikipedia under "Dunglish" for the humorous context. It just occurred to me that the dutch verb in question may be a causative cognate of our own F word, but I find no verification. Thoughts, anyone?

According to the 'Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands' (M. Philippa e.a. (2003-2009)) the word fokken might be related to English fuck, but the only thing they are sure about is the part: "Herkomst onzeker" (origin not certain).

I think it's likely a cognate, simply because of cross-linguistic similarities in the Germanic languages. Here's the Etymonline entry for it

Here's the full exchange that I read about:

Dutch Speaker: "I fok horses."
[Intended meaning: I breed horses., using Dutch word fokken - to breed, raise]

English Speaker: "Pardon???"
[Hearing 'fok' as the English word fuck, meaning 'to copulate with']

Dutch Speaker: "Ja! Paarden!"
[Hearing 'pardon' as Dutch paarden, which, appropriately, means 'horses']

This exchange has happened somewhere in the 1960's, the 'actors' being Robert Kennedy and the former Dutch foreign minister Joseph Luns. The latter, an exponent of old fashioned catholic elite, obviously mastered french much better...

Yagia wrote:This exchange has happened somewhere in the 1960's, the 'actors' being Robert Kennedy and the former Dutch foreign minister Joseph Luns. The latter, an exponent of old fashioned catholic elite, obviously mastered french much better...

You mean John F. Kennedy there.

check!