# The original word is fuckING. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 21, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483 "2005-07-21T15:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/41 "2005-07-22T14:09:03Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > No one’s mentioned “fuggin”. I’ve seen that on many a message board. 😃 That’s what Norman Mailer used in _The Naked and the Dead_, when the real word was still taboo with mainstream publishers. Tallulah Bankhead subsequently met him at a party and announced, “Oh, you’re the man who doesn’t know how to spell ‘fuck’!” ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/42 "2005-07-22T14:14:23Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Frikkin’ is spelled with two k’s, no c’s. (That’s not a joke – “frik” is a real word separate from fuck, and is not a fake derivative thereof like frack or frell.) > > –Cliffy Is “frik” and English word? I can’t find any definitions. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/43 "2005-07-22T14:24:26Z")
> [@Sarah Woodruff](#): > > Incidentally, there is a town in Austria called [Fucking.](http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/austria.asp) Or there was. For about 20 minutes in 1960. Incidentally, I prefer the spelling “fukken,” derived from the popular phrase “[eat a bowl of fukk](http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=%22eat+a+bowl+of+fukk%22)”. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/44 "2005-07-22T16:04:55Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > I guess if you stuffed a frog in a duck and then a chicken, you’d get a fucken. What’s the point? It’d just taste like one big piece of chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/45 "2005-07-22T18:19:21Z")
So, there was a kid in my hometown that had a speech impediment due to a hairlip. Because of his impediment, he couldn’t pronounce one of the most popular exclamations of the day. Instead, it came out: “Futtin’ A!” Which I try to use often. Makes me smile. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483/46 "2005-07-23T23:00:44Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > I’ve seen it claimed (with no authority whatsoever) that the original form of the adjective _was_ fucken–a past participle analogous to broken, taken, woven, etc. FWIW, when I was learning Middle English I was told that the word was derived from “pug” meaning “to strike” (a reference either to the ol’ in and out motion or perhaps from the fact that smacking a woman down to the ground was a not uncommon prelude to sex back in those romantic times). Notice the word “pugilism.” (Of course, it makes me wonder about “pug ugly” and “Pug dog,” but not enough to research them.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-word-is-fucking/313483.md?page=2)