Here at Yorkshire Pudding, I have occasionally stopped to consider particular words. This evening I am looking at a word that is used quite commonly over in The Republic of Ireland - mostly as a verb but sometimes as a noun or adjective. That word is "feck".
Of course it sounds rather like "fuck" which is widely thought of as the most impolite word in the English language and the source of much tut-tutting. But "feck" is different from "fuck". It's naughty but generally acceptable. It has a certain comical quality The word owes much to the Gaelic languages of both Ireland and Scotland. In Scots Gaelic, it was originally connected with effectiveness and in that sense is linked with the term "feckless" which is used to describe people who are ineffective or lazy and conduct themselves in a careless, unfocused manner.
My late brother Paul lived in Ireland for most of his adult life and I recall a scene in a busy Dublin pub when he returned from the bar grasping three pints of Guinness. The seat he had been sitting on was now occupied by a wiry little local man who might have been a leprechaun. Without hesitation, Paul said "That's my fecking seat ye little fecker!" After a short stand-off, the little man vacated the stool but soon became the best of chums with my brother. There were more "fecks" and "feckings" but the initial hatchet was soon buried.
Most English people must have first encountered "feck" through watching a bizarre nineties sitcom called "Father Ted". Located on fictional Craggy Island, it highlights the lives of a bunch of Irish priests. The most decrepit of them is alcoholic Father Jack (see the image at the top) who spends much of his time asleep but when he wakes up he is always in a foul mood and his outbursts are laced with "Feck" and "fecking".
"Feck" doesn't sit well on the tongues of Englishmen or English women. The word definitely has an Irish vibe but I have heard some English folk using it in place of its more heinous Anglo-Saxon alternative.
I think I've heard English people use the word feck. Geordieland is not a place to be sensitive about the eff word.
ReplyDeleteMy step-grandfather was from Newcastle. He lived with my grandmother in Byker but neither of them swore.
DeleteThere is something quite powerful about a word with F, C, and K in it. If you add in a "u" then yes, it is a very dirty word. Abbie Hoffman, in his book, "Steal This Book", encouraged that word as a sort of protest against the bullshit of the times. Ever since I read that, it has been one of my favorite words. However, "feck" is a good word too. But most people here in the US would have no idea what it meant.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
Like "feck", "fuck" is only a word. It is surprising how it raises hackles.
DeleteI don't know where I've heard "feck" given that I've never seen Father Ted. It seems a useful word
ReplyDeleteOut of interest you might want to check out an episode of "Father Ted" via "YouTube".
DeleteFeck would have to be one of the best words in the English (Irish?) language. Full of meaning and interchangeably an insult or a term of endearment as well as an adjective full of nuance.
ReplyDeleteYou are right - it is a pretty flexible word.
DeleteAs a fecking Scot, I wholeheartedly approve of this language.
ReplyDeleteYe Scotch fecker!
DeleteI like it, it's a fun word more than a swear word and certainly more acceptable. For me the worst word ever begins with c---. I absolutely hate it. It's crass, vulgar and cringe worthy.
ReplyDeleteI had better not say anything about that word. I don't wish to end up in hot water.
DeleteThank you for explaining this. I always thought "feck" was indeed just another way to say "fuck" without actually saying it and had no idea of its true origin.
ReplyDeleteCould you give me a brief explanation of "flippin' heck"? My 89-year-old mother-in-law uses it, so it must be polite enough, but she uses it in situations others would say something less polite.
"Flipping heck" is I think just a socially acceptable way of saying "Fucking hell". Phrase Finder says: "It's a minced oath--a deliberately mild version of something stronger that it sounds like. The two initials remained the same through this transformation." As far as I can ascertain it has been in use in Britain since the late nineteenth century. Its probable origin is in prudish Methodism here in the north of England.
DeleteNeither my Mother or Father swore either. My Mother's view was that it displayed an inadequate knowledge of the English Language. I recall being told by my Father that "bloomin' 'eck" was simply another way of saying "Bloody Hell" and with that knowledge did I still consider it acceptable?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it shows a lack of English vocabulary - as Billy Connolly observes: 'you never read "fuck off he hinted".
Delete"Gosh" is another word people say instead of "God".
ReplyDeleteAs a well brought up young lady I, of course, have never heard of any of those words.
ReplyDeleteI have a souvenir number plate from Ireland that reads "Feckin Eejit" it perfectly describes how the locals felt about my driving. A valid assessment.
ReplyDeleteA polite young woman said she hoped to study creative writing.
ReplyDeleteI told her about a fierce lady who ran fiction in an American college.
Students fainted before coming to her workshop and many dropped out.
'She sounds like a real c***,' the young woman said.
Jack Nicholson uttered the hated word in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
I had never heard it used by a woman, not even in profane Glasgow.
John Steinbeck never used profanity and winced if someone said damn.
You can see him receiving the Nobel Prize, YouTube.
I've heard "feck" but always thought it was just a variation on the conventional F-bomb. (Which is what I use!) I didn't realize it was considered more acceptable. I agree with River above -- the C-word outranks the F-bomb as the most impolite, I think. But I know English people use the C-word much more casually than we do in America.
ReplyDeleteYes, my daughter once told me, "Fuck is just a word, Mom." But it was MY Mom's most hated word so if I say it to myself now, I always say, "sorry, Mom" even tho, she's been dead for a while...
ReplyDeleteI learned of the word "feck" while watching "Derry Girls" on Netflix which I thought was hilarious! I was raised in Catholic schools so it triggered lots of funny memories for me.
Did you know that the origins of the F*** word dates back to Victorian times?. When the police arrested the "ladies of the night", they would book them with the words "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" which later became shortened using just the initials. This is something I read years ago in a novel about Victorian England, by, I think, the writer Sidney Sheldon.
ReplyDeleteMy use of profanity is sporadic and I rarely cuss in the presence of other humans. It's the "c" word that always horrified my children, but for some reason that one never bothered me. Different words offend different folks.
ReplyDeleteI live in a area of France amongst various fecking eejits, so the expression is used quite frequently.
ReplyDelete