Forum: Author Hangout

If you look at the etymology, you'd expect it to primarily mean 'masturbate' because its Mediaeval English meaning was to 'move restlessly', 'chafe' or 'rub'. But its initial sexual slang meaning was 'to have intercourse with' and it progressed to also include 'masturbate'.

That settles it. From now on, rather than "she was friggin' herself (I NEVER add the final "g"), I'll simply say "she chafed herself rapidly with sandpaper!" ;)

That's actually a thing, I'm surprised SOL doesn't have a code for it.

Why not "Chafe", as it's less off-putting than a "sandpaper" code. ;)

That said, it makes me giggle like I'm twelve again every time I see someone use it when misspelling "fridge".

Maybe that's because you're so used to holding ice cubes to your nipples during masturbating (I've known both sexes to try that little trick). The shivering puts you into the mood to "Ho-Ho-Ho" just like Santa Clause. ;) But you're right, fridging yourself is pretty ridiculous!

But, if I want to say screwing, I use the more direct—and stronger—terms (aka: fucking, screwing or humping), as they better convey the mood.

"Frigging" sounds, lyrically, more like playing, so better fits self-pleasuring yourself, which is how I've always used it. Yet, I have seen it used for a 'softer' version of "fuck", which I never quite got.

It also means masturbating.

Yet, I can't remember many instances of a guy 'frigging' himself. Instead, it seems reserved for women, which reinforces the idea of their massage their clits, often in secret, rather than in the open. (Though frig fits both, as it's the act it describes, rather than the overall context.)

I'm sure I've read many stories where guys 'frigged' themselves, but they weren't nearly as memorable. Plus, having spent so much time in gay enclaves (and bars, underground sex clubs and friends apartments) in Manhattan, I can't picture ANY guy describing 'frigging' some guy in the ass!

I have also heard "Go frig yourself" used as an alternative to "fuck off!"

Actually, using the 'go please yourself' definition makes for a more pleasant suggestion than flipping someone the finger.

I found the remake of "Battlestar Galactica" humorous when they did the same thing with the word "frack."

The "frack" thing was in the original IIRC.

Not in the 78 movie version. I believe it was the 2k version where it started.

Not in the 78 movie version.

I am certain it was in the original TV series.

And I was right, you also had the spelling wrong, it's frak, no "c".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frak_(expletive)

Frak or frack is a fictional version of "fuck" first used in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series. It continues to be used throughout different versions of the Battlestar Galactica franchise as a profanity in science fiction.

I'll have to drag out my copy of the 78 movie. I don't think they have that right.

I'll have to drag out my copy of the 78 movie.

The TV series, not the frakking movie. Even if it's not in the 1978 movie that doesn't preclude it from having been used in the original 1978 TV series.

I don't recall it from the series either, but I've slept a lot since then.

I don't recall it from the series either

I do.

but I've slept a lot since then.

or during. ;)

frig

"Why does "fridge" have a "d"?
November 27, 2012
Q: Who put the "d" in "fridge"? If it's short for "refrigerator," why isn't it "frig"?

A: Although most dictionaries list "fridge" as the only spelling for this abbreviated version of "refrigerator," a few do indeed include the "d"-less version "frig" as a variant spelling.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.), for example, has only the "fridge" spelling, while Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) includes "frig" as a variant.

Some American dictionaries describe the "frig" spelling as British, but all the British dictionaries we've checked (Macmillan, Collins, Longman, etc.) list only "fridge" for the short form of "refrigerator."

Interestingly, the earliest written example for the term in the Oxford English Dictionary uses the "frig" spelling (plus an apostrophe). In fact, five of the eight OED examples spell the term without the "d" (some with and some without the apostrophe).

The first "frig" citation in Oxford is from E. F. Spanner's 1926 novel Broken Trident: "Best part of our stuff here is chilled, and with no 'frig plant working, the mercury will climb like a rocket."

However, a reader of the blog has informed us of earlier examples of "frig" and the plural "friges" as shortened forms of "refrigerator."

S. Wilding Cole uses both terms several times in "The Cleansing of a Brewery," a paper presented on March 13, 1916, at a meeting in London of the local chapter of the Institute of Brewing.

In a section on the maintenance of refrigerators, for example, Cole says "most brewers know that unless 'friges' and mains are kept thoroughly clean, trouble is bound to ensue."

The earliest "fridge" cite in the OED is from Frame-Up, a 1935 crime novel by Collin Brooks: "Do you mean that you keep a dead body in a fridge waiting for the right moment to bring her out?"

The OED has examples of "frig" from as recently as 1960. Here's one from The Quiet American, the 1955 novel by Graham Greene: "We haven't a frig—we send out for ice."

Although "fridge" is either the only spelling or the preferred one in the eight US or UK dictionaries we checked, a bit of googling finds that "frig" is not exactly cooling its heels today. Here are just a few of the many examples posted over the last year:

"Frig not cooling, freezer is fine" … "Looking for built-in frig with crushed ice / water dispenser" … "Frig not cold anymore. What can i do?" … "Freezer works but frig not cold" … "Freezer Semi Cold, Frig Warm."

A similarly spelled verb, "frig," which most dictionaries describe as vulgar slang, has more to do with heating than cooling. It means to have sexual intercourse or masturbate. (The present participle, "frigging," is often used as an intensifier.)

How are all these frigging words pronounced? Well, the verb "frig" rhymes with "prig," but the nouns spelled "frig" and "fridge" both rhyme with "bridge." And "frigging" rhymes with "digging," though it's often spelled and pronounced friggin'.

The OED describes "fridge" as a colloquial abbreviation for "refrigerator," a much older term that showed up in the early 1600s. It suggests that the 'frig' spelling may have been influenced by the brand name "Frigidaire" (a play on "frigid air").

"Oxford, an etymological dictionary based on historical evidence, also notes that an 1886 edition of John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms includes the short form "frigerator."

We'd add that the company now known as Frigidaire was called the Guardian Frigerator Company when it was founded in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1916.

The company adopted the name "Frigidaire" in 1919, three years after "frig" and "friges" were used in the brewery paper cited above. So the brand name "Frigidaire" may have influenced the usage, but it couldn't have been the source.

We can't tell from the published examples in the OED (or some earlier ones in Google Books) who originated the "frig" and "fridge" spellings. But we can speculate about why "fridge" has become the dominant spelling.

First of all, the natural pronunciation of "fridge" matches the way the second syllable sounds in "refrigerator."

Although "frig" is pronounced the same way as "fridge" when it means a refrigerator, the natural pronunciation of "frig" would be like that of the naughty verb we mentioned above.

Our guess is that English speakers generally prefer the "fridge" spelling because they instinctively pronounce it the way the letters f-r-i-g sound in "refrigerator."

We'll end with a few lines from Ray Charles's recording of Louis Jordan's blues hit "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town":

"Let me tell you, honey
We gonna move away from here
I don't need no iceman
I'm gonna get you a Frigidaire."

Thanks to the author Verywellaged I understand in the Philippines they use "ref".

Thanks to the author Verywellaged I understand in the Philippines they use "ref".

...and a refrigerated trailer, of course, is a 'reefer' (which also, unfortunately, has another meaning, just like 'frig' has two possible meanings... but context usually will clear up the discrepancy.)

Some American dictionaries describe the "frig" spelling as British, but all the British dictionaries we've checked (Macmillan, Collins, Longman, etc.) list only "fridge" for the short form of "refrigerator."

Anyone who'd frig the fridge, or frig the frig, is a better woman than I, by far!

But since you keep referencing the Oxford, I guess the main difference between fridge and frig in the ol' American vs. English-English conflict.

A similarly spelled verb, "frig," which most dictionaries describe as vulgar slang, has more to do with heating than cooling. It means to have sexual intercourse or masturbate. (The present participle, "frigging," is often used as an intensifier.)

Are you frigging kidding me about frigging frigs and frids?