The F-Word Page 11

  foul up verb

  1. Originally Navy & U.S. Marine Corps. transitive. to bring into confusion; mix up; confound; botch; ruin; in phrase: foul up the detail, Military. to bungle. [Frequently regarded as a euphemism for FUCK UP, definition 1.]

  1942 (quotation at FOULED-UP). 1943 in R. R. Rea Wings of Gold (1987) 76: I fouled up a navigation quiz completely. 1944 F. Wakeman Shore Leave 21: You know damn well she’s in Hartford, making those Pratt-Whitney engines you foul up. 1946 S. Wilson Voyage to Somewhere 108: They’ve just fouled up the mails. I don’t doubt she’s writing. 1949 A. I. Bezzerides Thieves’ Market 198: She’s always fouling us up. 1949 “R. MacDonald” Moving Target 82: I’m fouled up. Why should I foul you up? 1952 L. Uris Battle Cry 132 [refers to WWII]: You guys have been fouling up field problems like a Chinese firedrill. Reisch & Breen Niagara (film): It’ll be all right if I don’t foul it up. 1953 H. G. Felsen Street Rod 83: We’d clobber the first guy that fouled us up by racing or being reckless on the roads. 1955 J. McGovern Fräulein 170: You’re in charge here, and I never try to foul you up. 1957 A. Myrer Big War 150 [refers to WWII]: Somebody fouled up the detail, that’s for sure. 1958 W. B. Plageman Steel Cocoon 55: A guy like that is a jinx. He could foul us all up. Don’t you see that? Ibid. 165: He fouled it up!…We almost had it, just perfect, and he fouled it up! 1958 L. F. Cooley Run for Home 343: The sonuvabitch nearly fouled up the whole detail. 1966 Rose The Russians Are Coming! (film): You’re gonna foul up the whole detail! 1966 J. Christopher Little People 179: And you’re determined to foul it up if you can. 1971 N. Capaldi Art of Deception 95: He might easily fit both categories and hence foul up the classification again. 1971 K. W. Keith Long Line Rider 91: He put black pepper behin’ ’em to foul up the dogs. 1971 J. N. Rowe Five Years to Freedom 402: My screwed-up additions to the map had done some good, even if they hadn’t fouled Charlie up completely. 1989 C. Stoll Cuckoo’s Egg 275: By 11:30, I’d fouled up two programs—what had worked an hour ago wasn’t working now. 1996 K. Hafner & M. Lyon 181: To all but the initiated the scenarios book was fairly incomprehensible, and it was easy to foul up the system. 2001 J. Picoult Salem Falls 292: As laboratory technician, Arthur Quince had enough trouble trying to keep afloat at Duncan Pharmaceuticals without investigators coming along to foul up the rhythm of his day.

  2. Originally Navy & U.S. Marine Corps. intransitive. to become confused, especially to blunder into or cause trouble; fail through confusion or ineptitude; go wrong or awry. [Frequently regarded as a euphemism for FUCK UP, definition 4.]

  1944 New Yorker (May 6) 26: Look how we fouled up on maneuvers. 1946 S. Wilson Voyage to Somewhere 197: Pretty soon all the crew will know that to get a transfer, all they have to do is foul up. 1951 J. Kerouac On the Road: The Original Scroll (2007) 141: When Neal came out Justin gave him one more chance. But Neal fouled up again. 1954 E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 27: They’d come to within a term of graduation, and they…didn’t want to get thrown out of school for fouling up at this late stage of the game. 1956 M. Wolff Big Nickelodeon 243: You fouled up and the old man came and took the kid. 1958 in R. Schwitzgebel Streetcorner Research 21: We want to know why kids foul up and why they do the other things they do. 1964 R. Newhafer Last Tallyho 135: If anything fouls up, he wants to be there. 1965 S. Linakis In Spring the War Ended 292: I don’t like to see a G.I. foul up. 1970 T. Thackrey Thief 295: Only my tipsters had fouled up again. 1978 J. Lee 13th Hour 21: If anything can foul up, it will. 1972–79 T. Wolfe Right Stuff 265: Please, dear God, don’t let me foul up. 1985 M. Atwood Handmaid’s Tale 176: The system had fouled up before, but a few phone calls usually straightened it out. 1992 Spectator (Dec. 19) 33/1: I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I could see he was nervous. He fouled up several times, and each time he got more upset. 2004 I. Johansen Blind Alley 320: You shouldn’t forget. You fouled up.… Maybe you’ll learn something from it.

  four Fs noun [partially punning on 4F, draft status for a person physically unfit to serve]

  a motto for sexual behavior: “find ’em, fool ’em, fuck ’em, and forget ’em.” Also variants. Also as fuck ’em and forget ’em (with variants) without four Fs.

  [1934 L. Berg Prison Nurse 29: No one ever got rich letting suckers keep their dough. My motto is “find them, fool them, and forget them!”] [1941 Macaulay & Wald Manpower (film): You’re talkin’ to the guy who finds ’em, feeds ’em and forgets ’em.] a1942 in A. B. Hollingshead Elmtown’s Youth 422: The five F’s —“find ’em, feed ’em, feel ’em, f—’em, forget ’em.” 1953 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark American Thesaurus of Slang (ed. 2) 325: The four F’s, high-pressure romancing—find ’em, fool ’em, frig ’em, and forget ’em. a1961 E. Partridge Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English (ed. 5) 1096: Four F method, the. This is the lower-deck’s allusive synonym (C.20) of its sexual motto, find, feel, f **k and forget, itself current since ca1890. 1965 Playboy (Nov.) 67: The Four F’s. 1966 S. Harris & L. Freeman Lords of Hell 30: What a sportsman mean when he say weaving the four F’s is—you got to find you chick and you got to fool her and you got to frig her and forget her! 1974 J. Lahr Hot to Trot 7: Melish, baby, the Four F’s are forever.… find ’em. Feel ’em. Fuck ’em. Forget ’em. 1978 S. Kopp End to Innocence 58: I aspired to the macho four Fs of my generation: find ’em, feel ’em, fuck ’em and forget ’em. 1978 W. Brown Tragic Magic 23: He could find them, fool them, feel them, fuck them, and forget them with exceptional agility. 1986 J. Ciardi Good Words 118: Find ’em, fool ’em, fuck ’em, and forget ’em.… I was first drilled to these orders in WWII and received them as essential GI pitch. 2006 L. Pitts Becoming Dad 196: Don’t let any one of them tie you down. Follow the “four F’s”: find ’em, feel ’em, fuck ’em, forget ’em.

  fox noun

  In phrase:

  hotter than a fresh-fucked fox in a forest fire, extremely hot (in any sense). Jocular.

  ca1950 in T. Atkinson Dirty Comics 197: Betty! This guy’s got me hotter than a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire. 1973 TULIPQ (coll. B.K. Dumas): Horny…Hotter than a fresh-fucked fox in a forest fire. 1974 E. Thompson Tattoo 264 [refers to 1940s]: It’s a bitch down there. Hotter than a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire. 1974 R. Blount 3 Bricks Shy 307: I’m hotter than a freshly fucked fox in a forest fire. 1977 S. Gaines Discotheque 268: It’s hotter in here than a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire. 1980 J. Ciardi Browser’s Dictionary 41: Hot as a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire. 1988 D. Dye Outrage 125: Locker room wisdom held churchmen’s daughters were “hotter’n a freshly fucked fox in a forest fire.” 1997 E. Little Another Day in Paradise 14: The cops are looking all over for ya, you’re hotter than a freshly fucked fox in a forest fire. 2006 C. Grabenstein Slay Ride 313: These bastards are going to swing around and start shooting at you the second you pull in. It’ll be hotter than a fresh-fucked fox in a forest fire. Copy?

  fox around verb

  (used as a euphemism for FUCK AROUND, verb, sense 2).

  1938 R. Chandler Big Sleep 108: So all you did was not report a murder that happened last night and then spend today foxing around so that this kid of Geiger’s could commit a second murder this evening. 1998 B. R. Johnson Woman Who Knew too Much 44: I saw him foxing around out there, messing with some kind of gizmo he had by the river behind his house.

  frak

  (a partial euphemism for) FUCK, in various senses and parts of speech. [Coined on, and chiefly associated with, the television show Battlestar Galactica. In the Original Series (1978), used exclusively as an interjection; in the Reimagined Series (2003–2009), used more broadly as a euphemism for many forms of FUCK, both figurative and literal. Spelled frack in Original Series scripts, frak in the Reimagined Series, apparently because the producers wanted it to literally be a four-letter word.]

  1978 Ultimate Weapon (Battlestar Galactica shooting script) (Sept. 14 reshoot) 13: STARBUCK’S COCKPIT…He is furious. STARBUCK Frack! 1978 Galactica Terminology Sheet (Battlestar Galactica Writers Guide, Universal City Studios) (Oct. 2): Frack!—an expletive.
1978 Hand of God (Battlestar Galactica shooting script) (undated) 38: Starbuck turns to his right and we see a Cylon fighter fly past extremely close. STARBUCK Oh…frack! 2005 Hand of God in Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi Channel) (Mar. 11): We are well and truly frakked. 2006 Scar in Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi Channel) (Feb. 3): I guaran-frakkin-tee you, I will put you down this time for good. 2006 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II in Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi Channel) (Mar. 10): You’re not still frakkin’ Dualla are ya? 2006 Entertainment Weekly (Sept. 29) 32: And it will be used to express rage after a high-ranking officer (nope, we ain’t tellin’) drives a pen into the neck of tortured traitor Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and screams “MOTHERFRAKKER!” 2007 Crossroads, Part I in Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi Channel) (Mar. 18): You know this game’s got frak-all to do with the real thing, right? 2009 Calgary Herald (Jan. 16) (Swerve section) 16: Be sure to take in the one-hour clip show that precedes the premiere for a refresher on what the frak is going on. Well, on most of what’s going on; after all, this is Lost and what fun would it be to have all the answers?

  frap [formed from FRAPPING]

  (used as a euphemism for FUCK in various senses and parts of speech).

  1980 G. Benford Timescape 100: And frap, you should see the antiburglar network. 1992 C. Eble Campus Slang (Fall) 3: What the frap is going on? 1998 Washington Post (Apr. 29) D4: “Frap,” a way to curse without cursing (“Boy, I really frapped that up.”). Ibid. Off-brand frap…“a lame girl.” 2007 W. B. Scott et al. Space Wars 38: She and her boss didn’t give a flyin’ frap about space.

  frapping adjective

  Military. (a partial euphemism for) FUCKING, adjective.

  1968 W.C. Anderson Gooney Bird 76: We’ll let a whole frapping regiment get away before we’ll risk hitting one old lady in sneakers. 1970 N.Y. Times (Apr. 19) 1: And finally in desperation: “What’s the frappin’ altitude?” 1972 W.C. Anderson Hurricane 196: And the poor frapping navy! 1973 M. Collins Carrying the Fire 334: Yeah, but the frapping thing bombed out again. 1989 M. Berent Rolling Thunder 133: That frapping Dash-K is shooting out our cover by the frapping roots. 1991 Soldier of Fortune (Dec.) 48/1: I need a frapping medic like I need a hole in the head. 1994 J. Lovell & J. Kluger Apollo 13 vi. 167: “What’s the frappin’ attitude?” Lovell asked. 2007 K. W. Fields Rescue of Streetcar 304 148: “I’m still alive, you frapping mothers,” I mumbled out loud. I felt macho, but thought, this is not real. It’s too much like a frapping movie.

  freaking adjective & adverb

  (a partial euphemism for) FUCKING, adjective & adverb.

  1928 M. Bodenheim Georgie May 9: Oh yuh cain’t catch o-on to thuh freakin’ Mistah Stave an’ Chain. Ibid. 70: Ah hate the hull, freaking pack uh you. 1955 Harper’s (Mar.) 35: Open the Freaking Door, Joe. 1961 G. Garrett Which Ones Are the Enemy 16: Not freaking likely. 1965 R. Hardman Chaplains Raid 1: A great big freaking disaster! 1972 C. Gaines Stay Hungry 152: He’s freaking Superman is who he is. 1972–76 C. Durden No Bugles, No Drums 9: It’s too freakin’ late now. 1978 W. Wharton Birdy 276: It’s like my freaking body has some kind of controls all its own. 1972–79 T. Wolfe Right Stuff 6: It was a struggle to move twenty feet in this freaking muck. 1982 Flash (Dec.) 10: Have you gone freakin’ bananas? 1989 U.S. Navy officers, on Prime News (CNN-TV) (Jan. 5): “He’s got a missile off!” “Freakin’ right!” 1998 Esquire (Mar.) 148: Enough already with all the theory and dice games and analysts. Let’s buy some freakin’ stocks. 2005 GQ (Sept.) 196/3: You will be a guinea pig, but you will freaking love it.

  frell

  (a partial euphemism for) FUCK, in various senses and parts of speech. [Coined on, and chiefly associated with, the television show Farscape.]

  1999 Farscape (Sci Fi Channel) (June 18): John: Well, gotta give me a clue here, Aeryn. Is this something new, or is this just your usual PMS, Peacekeeper military sh—Aeryn: Frell you. 2000 Farscape (Sci Fi Channel) (Aug. 4): Dregon: Because of all the days before it hurts. The good days when you’re in love. It’s too bad you can’t get back to at least tell Crichton how you feel. Aeryn: What difference would it make? He’s a frelling statue. Dregon: But he can hear, he can see, he’ll know Aeryn, at least he’ll know. 2001 Farscape (Sci Fi Channel) (Mar. 23): Work, frell you, work! Ibid. Frell me dead. 2002 TV Zone (No. 157) 82/1: If networks want to frell with the fans, then so be it. Let them continue to make mind-numbing drivel of TV shows like daily Soap Operas where the dumb and dumber will continue to tune in to watch absolutely no character development or true emotions. 2003 Farscape (Sci Fi Channel) (Feb. 28): Taken her back to my ship, frelled her, and made babies. 2003 Horn Book Mag. (July/Aug.) 503: We worked our frelling tails off for a whole year. 2003 Farscape (Sci Fi Channel) (Mar. 14): “You are so self-righteous! I have used all my skills, all my resources, for one perfect chance at peace. And because of you, it is gone! And I am…” “Frelled. Screwed. Raped.”

  French fuck noun

  an act of rubbing the penis between a woman’s breasts. Also as verb. Compare TIT-FUCK.

  1938 “Justinian” Americana Sexualis 22: French Fuck. n. A form of sexual activity in which the male sits astride the recumbent female and achieves sexual orgasm by rubbing his penis between her breasts, while concomitantly effecting her orgasm by digital stimulation of her vaginal area. Br. & U.S., C. 19-20. 1974 U.S. graduate student: A…French fuck is when you rub your dick between her breasts. It’s also called a muscle fuck. [Heard in Arkansas, ca1970.] 1997 Jacob’s Paradise (FFF, FFFM, teen) on Usenet newsgroup alt.sex.stories (May 3): Jake decided he wanted to suck Amy’s huge tits. He did this for about 5 minutes, until they were both aroused again, then he started to French fuck her while he fingerfucked her cunt.

  frick

  (a partial euphemism for) FUCK in various senses and parts of speech, esp. as fricking adjective.

  1936 E. Partridge Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English 982: Fricking. A s. euphemism for f**king, adj.: C.20 On or ex frigging, adj. 1942 J. Aldridge Signed with Their Honor 234: I wonder where those frickin’ Jerries are. 1952 M. Cooper Sironia, Texas II. 1391: If you ever so much as thinks ’bout tellin’ dat frickin’ Night Chief anything, you goner get such a bust in de mouf my fist’ll end up in yo’ stummuck. 1967 W. Crawford Gresham’s War 125: “And meantime?” “Frick the dog, I reckon.” 1970 New York Magazine (Mar. 30) 32/2: “Frickin’ kids.… Those frickin’ kids.” Frank never swears. 1970 in P. Heller In This Corner 237: That fricking bum. 1976 C. Rosen Mile Above the Rim 40: Jesus H. Keerist! What a fricken ball club! 1977 N. Dowd Slap Shot (film): Grab your frickin’ gear and get goin’. 1986 L.A. Law (NBC-TV): You got a problem with that, you go live in the frickin’ Soviet Union! 1987 U.S. college professor, age ca65: In Albany [N.Y., ca1934] we used frick-in’ a lot. Certainly more than friggin’: “That frickin’ son of a bitch!” 1988 J. F. Powers Wheat that Springeth Green 234: Well, I’ll be fricked. 1989 CBS Summer Playhouse (CBS-TV): Who do you think you are? Attila the Hun? Jack the fricking Ripper? 1989 21 Jump St. (Fox-TV): Absofrickin’lutely! We’re talking total obliteration. 1992 N. Baker Vox 56: I get so fricking horny. 1998 Sick Puppy Comix (Sydney, Australia) (No. 7) 2: Maybe things will change now that I’ve got this frickin’ hi-tech e-mail address. 2001 New York Magazine (Apr. 2) 15/4: One hundred thousand [New Yorkers] are waiting for some snotty salesgirl in Bergdorf’s, 100,000 are on hold with NYNEX, or Verizon or AT&T or Lucent or whatever the frick the company is called now,…and the rest are stuck in traffic. 2001 FHM (Feb.) 120/1: [“]In American Pie, you utter the infamous line, “One time at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy!”—were you embarrassed at all at saying it?[”] [“]God no! I fricking loved that script as soon as I got it.[”] 2004 N. Flynn Another Bullshit Night in Suck City iii. 205: By morning it all will be gone—no inside no outside, no cardboard box no mansion, no birth no death, no container no contained, a Zen koan, a frikkin riddle. 2009 Scrubs (ABC-TV) (Feb. 3): “You know what? Frick them!” “Frick them? I’m one of them!” “But they’re acting like a bunch of frick-heads. Sorry ab
out all the f-bombs.”

  frig noun

  1. an instance of masturbation.

  1786 R. Burns in J. S. Farmer Merry Songs IV 282: Defrauds her wi’ a frig or dry-bob. ca1890 My Secret Life V. viii. 171: I pulled out my prick and with two or three frigs spent in a spasm of pain and pleasure. ca1890 My Secret Life XI. xi.: A frig in a summer house. A frig in a grotto.

  2. an act of copulation.

  1888 Stag Party 62: What is the difference between a flag and a frig? One is bunting, the other is cunting. 1927 Immortalia 44: ’Twas a frig to a finish.

  3. a damn; FUCK, noun, definition 3a.

  1954–55 M. McCarthy Charmed Life 66: This is ridiculous.… I don’t give a frig about Sinnot’s heredity. 1968 A. Myrer Eagle 61: Ain’t worth a frig. 1988 J. Collins Rock Star 328: I don’t give a frig. 2002 J. McGahern That They May Face Rising Sun (2003) 119: “If the thing was to break down now we’d be able to get up what’s left with the forks.” “What about my poor meadows?” “You wouldn’t care a frig.”

  4. (a partial euphemism for) the fuck definition 1, under FUCK, noun.

  1944 A. Kapelner Lonely Boy Blues 91: And who the frig is Sam Duncan? 1948 I. Wolfert Act of Love 239: Here the frig we go again. 1964 C. Howe Valley of Fire 98: Leave him the frig alone. 1978 R. De Christoforo Grease 96: And who the frig are you? 1997 A. Khan-Din East is East (rev. ed.) ii. v. 71: Who the frig do you think you are coming in here telling me my house isn’t good enough for your daughters.