No, feck isnt Scottish. I'm pretty sure it was invented by "Father Ted" to
stand in for another word he couldnt use on TV.
feckless no odder than listless?
SallyE
on 19/9/02 6:21 pm, grasshopper at [log in to unmask]
wrote:
> Dear Arthur,
> I think feck is a Scottish dialect word with various meaning like effect or
> amount.
> Actually I am always coming upon 'one-way' English words, and wish I had
> thought to start listing them. I wonder if there is a list anywhere, on the
> www, perhaps?
> Kind regards,
> grasshopper
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: arthur seeley
> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 5:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Heft
>
>
> Grassy.
> Yes, I understand that, but my point was that I would think it would drop
> naturally from those words even if one had not heard the word 'heft' before.
> I remember my delight, for instance, when reading Ulysees and Bloom visits a
> lady in hospital who has just given birth and Joyce describes Bloom,
> standing quietly, as 'a sad ruth of a man'.
> Incidentally does the word feckless mean anything to you?? If so, what is '
> feck' ? Or better, since this is a poetry list, what the heck is feck??
> Regards Arthur
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: grasshopper
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 4:31 PM
> Subject: Re: Heft
>
>
> Ah, Arthur, that sort of argument doesn't always hold because there are
> plenty of words that are common in one form, but rarely or never used in
> another. I have often been nonplussed, for instance, but I have never been
> plussed.
> Kindreagrds,
> grasshopper
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: arthur seeley
> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 3:47 PM
> Subject: Re: Heft
>
>
> I am puzzled that this word worries folk. Is it so rarely heard. Have you
> heard of people paying a hefty fine, or something being hefty in weight, how
> can you know if you do not heft it ?? Clearly it derives from heavy and
> heaved, etc. I would not have thought it would cause so much trouble.
> Incidentally there are in the Lakes and Northern Dales, 'hefted ' flocks of
> sheep, such flocks do not wander and if a shepherd requires to see a sheep
> of hefted stock he will return to its birthplace and find it within 150
> yards of the spot. An ewe of hefted stock will return to its birth[place to
> bear its young. Unfortunately this rare and wondrous breed was dreadfully
> decimated by the Foot and Mouth outbreak and it is feared that the instinct
> might be lost altogether. The word hefted as used here bears little
> relationship as far as I can see to my use of the word.
> Just a useless piece of Dales' Lore to wile away the hours. Regards Arthur.
|