# Friggin'? Frikkin'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049 "2003-01-16T20:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/21 "2003-01-18T03:31:42Z")
In 1650, was there a DIFFERENCE??? šŸ˜ƒ šŸ˜ƒ šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/22 "2003-01-18T03:33:00Z")
Well, the joke ends > [@](#): > > The sergeant retired. In an hour he returned and respectfully made this report: ā€œPlease your honour, we have frigged the young one, but we canā€™t make the old manā€™s cock stand.ā€ I suspect that your ā€œscrew emā€ conjecture matched the officerā€™s intent, but the joke is based on the literal nature of the sergeant as he responded to the actual order. ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/23 "2003-01-18T03:33:36Z")
Common usage, Iā€™d say all of those are replacements for _fuck_. I use freakinā€™ all the time around people who have kids. Now, you can look in the Oxford all day, but even that will define a word based on its usageā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/24 "2003-01-18T03:35:20Z")
> [@](#): > > even that will define a word based on its usageā€¦ I certainly hope so. That is what good dictionaries _do_. ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/25 "2003-01-18T03:41:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*I certainly hope so. That is what good dictionaries _do_. \*\* As opposed to finding the origination of ā€œfrig,ā€ ā€œfreak,ā€ etc. In other words, look to the usage, not the history. ---
**Author:** ![JRootabega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@JRootabega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRootabega)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/26 "2003-01-18T04:29:56Z")
ā€œfreakā€ is now most definitely used as a verb similar to ā€œfuckā€. For instance, who remembers ā€œFreak Meā€ by Silk? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/27 "2003-01-19T15:49:03Z")
Definitely a case where common useage has shifted in the last few decades. Late 1960ā€™s/early 1970ā€™s meaning of freak wasnā€™t sexual intercourse, it was , IIRC, much more drug use-related. Not to be a finger-pointer, but amongst many other groups, Grateful Dead fans ( such as my brother, my cousins, everyone I grew up with except ME ) referred to themselves rather proudly as Freaks. Then, there was the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Their exploits were unquestionably drug-use centered, not sexual intercourse-centered. Not uncommon for a word to shift over the course of several decades, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/28 "2003-01-19T17:36:24Z")
During my teensā€“this would be in the 1980sā€“I read a bunch of _Hustler_ and _Penthouse_ magazines. In some of the stories, articles, and no-doubt 100% accurate letters, the words frig and frigginā€™ were often used to mean rubbing or chaffing and/or masturbation . . . you know, a woman would get excited and, using her hands, start ā€œfuriously frigginā€™ā€ her, um, well, you know . . . ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049/29 "2003-01-19T21:11:22Z")
FWIW. ā€œFreakingā€ is the act of removing tobacco from a _Black and Mild_ cigar, removing the paper interior sheeth, and replacing the tobacco into the wrapper still attached to the mouthpiece. Believe me it very much improves the flavor. From my use of the word I do not believe it is a derivitave of fuck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friggin-frikkin/149049.md?page=1)