The F-Word (20 page)

c
. to cheat. [Frequently regarded as a partial euphemism for
FUCK
,
verb
, definition 4a.]

[
ca
1684
in Ashbee
Biblio.
II 339: I’ll then invade and bugger all the Gods/And drain the spring of their immortal cods,/Then make them rub their arses till they cry,/You’ve frigged us out of immortality.]
1928
American Speech
III (Feb.) 219:
Frig
. To trick, to take advantage of. “They frigged me out of the last bottle of Scotch!”
1935
J. Conroy
World to Win
209: They’ll frig themselves and ever’body else out of a job.
1945
in S. J. Perelman
Don’t Tread on Me
60: I don’t use a literary agent, but I probably should, because I have been frigged time and again by publishers.
1952
H. Grey
Hoods
88: He’s the kind of guy who talks through both sides of his mouth and whistles “I frig you truly.”

3
. to trifle or fool about.—used with
with, about,
or
around
. [Frequently regarded as a partial euphemism for
FUCK
,
verb
, definition 5.]

1785
F. Grose
Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
:
To frig
.… Frigging is also used figuratively for trifling.
1811
in F. W. Howay
Voyage of the New Hazard
(1938) 15: Staying jib-boom; loosing and handing sails over; getting boat on the quarter and frigging about all the afternoon.
ca
1900
in
English Dialect Dictionary
: I can do nothing while you keep frigging about.
1928
C. McKay
Banjo
241: Don’t think I like frigging round officials. I hate it.
1930
T. Fredenburgh
Soldiers March!
151 [refers to 1918]: What the hell do you want, frigging around that echelon?
1933
J. Masefield
Conway
211 [refers to 1891]:
Frig about,
to fool around.
1940
E. Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls
272: We do not let the gypsy nor others frig with it.
1946
J. H. Burns
Gallery
301: Untying his shoelaces and frigging with the buckles on his boots.
1949
H. Ellson
Tomboy
127: Do you let any punk in the mob frig around with you?
1952
H. Grey
Hoods
225: No friggin’ around.
1954
B. Schulberg
On the Waterfront
11: I worked too hard for what I got to frig around with a cheese-eater. Know what I mean?
1961
A. J. Roth
Shame of Wounds
34: Now if you was in my gang, we’d fix Nolan for you. He don’t frig around with none of us.
1962
R. Dougherty
Commissioner
187: You go in there—no friggin’ around.
1975
J. Gould
Maine Lingo
102:
Frig
. A word with four-letter nuance almost everywhere except Maine. Here, it means fiddle around, dawdle, fidget, fuss, fondle idly, putter. A Maine lady of unimpeachable gentility once described her late husband as nervous and ill at ease in public, and said he would sit “
frigging
with his necktie.”
1988
M. Bail
Holden’s Performance
113: You can’t frig around with nature.
2001
A. Wheatle
East of Acre Lane
4: Don’t frig about, Chaks, you’ll get de t’ings back, no worries.

In phrase:

go frig [yourself]!
get away! go to hell!

1936
S. Kingsley
Dead End
726: Ah, go frig!
1946
W. L. Gresham
Nightmare Alley
47: Go frig a rubber duck.
1951
W. J. Sheldon
Troubling of a Star
20: Tell the bastard to go frig himself.
1961
A. J. Roth
Shame of Wounds
213: They stared at each other for several seconds. Then Red lowered his eyes and muttered uneasily. “Aw, go frig yourself.”
1984
T. Robbins
Jitterbug Perfume
48: You have strayed from your kingdom, Your Majesty. I am not subject to your authority. In fact, go frig yourself.
2000
J. Brady
Marines of Autumn
200: Izzo told them to go frig themselves.

frigger
noun

1
. a person who frigs.

1659
G. Torriano
Vocabolario Italiano & Inglese
:
Frugatoio
…a frigger, a clown, a wriggler up and down.
1879
Harlequin Prince Cherrytop
12: Such cheek from a half-hung selfish frigger.
ca
1890
My Secret Life
VIII. ix.: She was a wonderful frigger.—Her masturbation was most delicate and fetching (some women never can frig).

2
. (a partial euphemism for)
FUCKER
, definition 2.

1953
W. Manchester
City of Anger
145: That bastard… that no good frigger.
1989
Viz
(Oct.–Nov.) 24/2 (in cartoon): Fuck! It’s deed! Hey! It is n’all! Eh? It was alreet when I wrapped the frigger up this mornin’.
2002
J. McGahern
That They May Face Rising Sun
(2003) 260: Don’t be standing up for him, Kate.… Give him an inch and the frigger will build nests in your ears.

frigging
adjective & adverb

contemptible or despicable; damned; (often used with reduced force for emphasis). Also as infix. [Perhaps originally derived from literal phrases such as
frigging youngster, frigging madman,
etc., used opprobriously; now usually regarded as a partial euphemism for
FUCKING
.]

a
1890–93
J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley
Slang & Its Analogues
III 74:
Frigging…Adj. and adv.
(vulgar).—An expletive of intensification. Thus
frigging bad
—“bloody” bad; a
frigging idiot
—an absolute fool.
1929–30
J. Dos Passos
42nd Parallel
55: If people only realized how friggin’ easy it would be.
Ibid.
89: I told ’em I was a friggin’ bookagent to get into the damn town.
1943
in P. Smith
Letters from Father
332: It was a “friggen” swell party.
1944
F. Wakeman
Shore Leave
10: It took me three more weeks to get off that frigging island.
1947
W. Motley
Knock on Any Door
194: I’m no friggin’ good.
1948
I. Wolfert
Act of Love
136: On your feet, you friggin’ volunteers.
1949
A. I. Bezzerides
Thieves’ Market
3: You’re frigging right, Pa.
1947–52
R. Ellison
Invisible Man
192: A frigging eight-day wonder.
1954
F. I. Gwaltney
Heaven & Hell
264 [refers to WWII]: That would be oh-friggen-kay with me.
1956
G. Metalious
Peyton Place
93: Where’s the friggin’ bottle?
1957
Mayfield
Hit
89: “Is
he the only one who can drive this friggin’ car?” squealed Frank.
1968
P. Larkin
Letter
(Aug. 19) in A. Thwaite
Selected Letters of Philip Larkin
(1992) 403: Your whacking great book on Stalin’s purges came this afternoon; I began putting my nose in it as a change from writing my frigging annual report.
1974
M. Cherry
On High Steel
160: So friggin’ what?
1980
J. Carroll
Land of Laughs
22: I got the friggin’ renewal already.
1986
Newsweek
(Jul. 28) 26: I said, “Give me a break, this ain’t no frigging war.”
1989
Tour of Duty
(CBS-TV): There ain’t no friggin’ justice!
1991
R. Marcinko & J. Weisman
Rogue Warrior
63: I don’t frigging believe it.
1992
N. Cohn
Heart of World
9: Straight off the friggin’ boats.
1995
C. D. Short
Shining Shining Path
iii. 57: The wonderful weather was holding and every single aspect was going so ab, so, frigging, lutely,
perfect
.
2001
C. Palahniuk
Choke
ii. 12: All these people you think are a big joke. Go ahead and frigging laugh your frigging head off.

frigging-A
interjection

(a partial euphemism for)
FUCKING
-A.

1966
J. Kerouac in
Evergreen Review
X. 84/2: I heard somebody say to another guy :- “
Le roi n’est pas amusez
.” (The king is not amused.) (“You frigging A!” I shoulda yelled out the window.)
1971
Jacobs & Casey
Grease
13: DANNY. Is that all you ever think about, Sonny? SONNY.… Friggin’-A!
1973
W. Crawford
Stryker
41: You’re friggin-A-well right I would have.
1979
W. P. McGivern
Soldiers of ’44
139 [refers to WWII]: “So you know what I’m thinking.”…“Frigging A.”
1984
in W. Safire
You Could Look It Up
120: A euphemism from my adolescence, like “Friggin’-A, I’m going.”
1992
C. Sellers
World Ablaze
149: “Frigging-A right!” Sloan yelled, and stood up to empty his clip at the enemy’s flank.

frig off
verb

1
. to masturbate to orgasm.

1909
J. Joyce in
Selected Letters
191: Do you frig yourself off first?
1955
“Thirty-Five”
The Argot: Frig up
To mess up (euphemism).… In literal sense,
to frig oneself off,
to masturbate.
1979
American Speech
LI 22 [refers to
ca
1950]:
Frig
and
frig off
.

2
. to go away; go to hell.—used imperatively. [Regarded as a partial euphemism for
FUCK OFF
, definition 1.]

1961
A.J. Roth
Shame of Wounds
141: “Go on, frig off,” Red’s scowl dared him. “See how far you get by yourself.”
1965
in
Oxford English Dictionary Supp
.: “Frig off,” he said, swinging towards the door.

frig-up
noun

(a partial euphemism for)
FUCK-UP
, definitions 1 & 2.

1941
S. J. Baker
Dict. Australian Slang
30:
Frigg-up,
a confusion, muddle.
1948
I. Shaw
Young Lions
542: You’re the frig-ups of the Army.
1954
F. I. Gwaltney
Heaven & Hell
15 [refers to WWII]: Hell no! I ain’t no frigup.
Ibid.
18: They’re frigups, sure, but they ain’t jailbirds.
1992
J. Cartwright
Rise & Fall of Little Voice
45: I’ve just been involved with the worst…frig-up in Mari’s history.

frig up
verb

1
. (a partial euphemism for)
FUCK UP
, definition 1.

1933
in J. Dos Passos
14th Chronicle
428: All my plans for work are frigged up for fair, too.
1937
J. Weidman
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
60: Something’s frigged up around here!
1942
S.J. Baker
Australian Language
267: It is common in English for
up
to be added in a verbal sense, thus
mess up, rust up, knock up,
and even for certain nounal forms to emerge.… Thus we have…
frigg-up
or
muck-up,
a confusion, a row or argument.]
1954
F.I. Gwaltney
Heaven & Hell
26: When they frigup [
sic
] here, they ain’t no place to send ’em except home in a box.
a
1966
S.J. Baker
Australian Language
(ed. 2) 217:
Frig up,
to mar.
1985
L. Choyce
Why I Live Where I Live
in
Avalanche Ocean
(1987) iii. viii. 166: The warm weather had frigged up any possibility of decent snowmobiling.
1992
S. King
Dolores Claiborne
62: The person in charge isn’t there to frig it up.