# Irish Dopers: "Fooked"???
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 5, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504 "2006-08-05T23:37:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504/1 "2006-08-05T23:37:24Z")
I am hanging out with some Irish guys, and one said that he “was going to be absolutely fucked,” and then claimed that he said “fooked” and that is a different word, and not obscene. The others backed him up, but I think that was just a show of solidarity.
Also, they are claiming that “feck” is very common word, and appropriate for use in general company. Any truth to that one?
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504/2 "2006-08-05T23:42:17Z")
Nonsense. It’s the same word, just with a dialectal variation. Similar myths spread in England when Father Ted was popular, claiming that ‘feck’ was a way around the (non-existent) ‘censor’. It’s true that the offensiveness and general suitability of even the moderated vocabulary can vary, but this depends on class, location, and everything else.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504/3 "2006-08-05T23:45:09Z")
Feck is a little more polite, and usually means the same as fuck, although I understand it is not quite a synonym.
> **[Feck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feck)**
>
> "Feck" (occasionally spelled "fek" or "feic") is a word that has several vernacular meanings and variations in Irish English, Scots, and Middle English.
> "Feck" is a form of effeck, which is in turn the Scots cognate of the modern English word effect. However, this Scots noun has additional significance:
> From the first sense can be derived "feckless", meaning witless, weak, or ineffective. "Feckless" remains a part of Modern English and Scottish English, and appears in a number of Scottish ada...
> **[Feck - Everything2.com](https://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=75298)**
>
> It is a common misconception that "Feck" is synonymous with the other F word. As far as I know, its original etymology is "to urinate&quo...
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504/4 "2006-08-06T01:39:38Z")
There was a _Daily Show_ sketch about a Supreme Court justice named Rufus Pfukke, from which we get the term, “getting pfukked.” But that’s just another play on the word “fuck.”
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### Author:  [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-fooked/367504/5 "2006-08-06T01:47:27Z")
Feck is it’s own word with a seperate meaning of it’s own, as **thelurkinghorror** pointed out. [Feckless](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/feckless) is the opposite of feck, and it’s in the dictionary.