Fart

Fart is an English language vulgarism most commonly used in reference to flatulence. The word "fart" is generally considered unsuitable in a formal environment by modern English speakers, and it may be considered vulgar or offensive in some situations. "Fart" can be used as a noun or a verb. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fart Dictionary.com] ] The immediate roots are in the Middle English words "ferten", "feortan" or "farten"; which is akin to the Old High German word "ferzan". Other roots lie in old Norse, Greek and Sanskrit. The word "fart" has been incorporated into the colloquial and technical speech of a number of occupations, including computing.

"Fart" is sometimes used as a nonspecific derogatory epithet, often to refer to 'an irritating or foolish person', and potentially an elderly person, described as an 'old fart'. This may be taken as an insult when used in the second or third person, but can potentially be a term of endearment, or an example of self deprecatory humour when used in the first person. [ [http://www.hacker-dictionary.com/terms/old-fart Hacker dictionary] ] The phrase 'boring old fart' was popularised in the UK in the late 1970s by the New Musical Express while chronicling the rise of punk. It was used to describe hippies and establishment figures in the music industry, forces of inertia against the new music.

Etymology

The English word "fart" is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary. Its Indo-European origins are confirmed by the many cognate words in other Indo-European languages: It is cognate with Greek "πέρδομαι" (perdomai), "pēdĕre", Sanskrit "pardate", Avestan "pərəδaiti", and Russian "пердеть" (perdet'), all of which mean the same thing. Like most Indo-European roots in the Germanic languages, it was altered by Grimm's law, so that Indo-European "/p/" > "/f/", and "/d/" > "/t/", as the German cognate "furzen" also manifests. [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th edition, 2000)] ["Dictionnaire Hachette de la Langue Française", (Hachette, 1995) ISBN 0-317-45629-6] [T. G. Tucker, "Etymological Dictionary of Latin", (Halle, 1931, repr. Ares Publishers, 1985) ISBN 0-89005-172-0]

Vulgarity and offensiveness

In certain circles the word is considered merely a common profanity with an often humorous connotation. For example, a person may be referred to as a 'fart', or an 'old fart', not necessarily depending on the person's age. This may convey the sense that a person is overly boring or fussy and be intended as an insult, mainly when used in the second or third person. For example '"he's a boring old fart!" However the word may be used as a colloquial term of endearment or a in an attempt at humorous self-deprecation, (e.g., in such phrases as "I know I'm just an old fart" or "you do like to fart about!"). 'Fart' is often only used as a term of endearment when the subject is personally well known to the user. In both cases though, it tends to refer to personal habits or traits that the user considers to be a negative feature of the subject, even when it is a self-reference. For example, when concerned that a person is being overly methodical they might say 'I know I'm being an old fart', potentially to forestall negative thoughts and opinions in other. When used in an attempt to be offensive, the word is still considered vulgar, but it remains a mild example of such an insult. This usage dates back to the Medieval period, where the phrase 'not worth a fart' would be applied to a item held to be worthless. [cite book |last=Hughes |first=Geoffrey |title=A History of English Words |year=2000 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=063118855X |page=130]

Historical examples

The word "fart" in Middle English occurs in Chaucer's "Miller's Tale", one of the "Canterbury Tales". In the tale (which is told by a bawdy miller as a group of pilgrims travel to Canterbury), Absolon has already been tricked into kissing Alison's buttocks when he is expecting to kiss her face. Her boyfriend Nicholas hangs his buttocks out of a window, hoping to trick Absolon into kissing his buttocks in turn and then passes gas in the face of his rival.

The word "fart" was in pre-modern times not considered especially vulgar and could often be encountered in literary works. Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language", published in 1755, included the word. Johnson defined it with two poems, one by Jonathan Swift, the other by Sir John Suckling. [cite book |last=Evans |first=Ron |title=Coming Home: Saskatchewan Remembered |year=2002 |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd |isbn=1550023799 |page=95] [ [http://www.davyking.com/fart.htm An ill wind. Some fascinating facts about farting] ] In 1607, a group of Members of Parliament had written a ribald poem entitled "The Parliament Fart", as a symbolic protest against the conservatism of the House of Lords and the king, James I. [cite book |last=Marotti |first=Arthur |title=Manuscript, print, and the English renaissance lyric |year=1995 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0801482380 |page=113] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/jun/23/research.highereducation Ode to fart gets airing at last] ]

Modern usage

By the early twentieth century, the word "fart" had come to be considered rather vulgar in most English-speaking cultures. While not one of George Carlin's original seven dirty words, he noted in a later routine that the word "fart" , ought to be added to "the list" of words that were not acceptable (for broadcast) in any context (which have non-offensive meanings). [ [http://www.georgecarlin.com/dirty/dirty3.html George Carlin ] ] Thomas Wolfe had the phrase 'a fizzing and sulphuric fart' cut out of his 1929 work "Look Homeward, Angel" by his publisher. Ernest Hemingway, who had the same publisher, accepted the principle that fart could be cut, on the grounds that no one should use words only to shock. [cite book |last=Leff |first=Arthur |title=Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood, Scribners, and the Making of American Celebrity Culture |year=1997 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0847685454 |page=105] The hippy movement in the 1970s saw a new definition develop, with the use of fart as a pronoun, to describe a 'detestable person, or someone of small stature or limited mental capacity', gaining wider and more open usage as a result. [cite book |last=McCleary |first= |title=The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s |year=2004 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=1580085474 |page=174]

Cockney rhyming slang developed the alternative form 'Raspberry Tart', later shortened to 'Raspberry', and occasionally 'Razz'. This was associated with the phrase 'blowing a raspberry'. [cite book |last=Burridge |first=Kate |title=Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521853133 |page=28] The word has become more prevalent, and now features in children's literature, such as the "Walter the Farting Dog" series of children's books, Robert Munsch's "Good Families Don't" and "The Gas We Pass" by Shinta Cho. Teachers in American schools have been encouraged to use books about farts to make children more comfortable with the word. [cite book |last=Holgate & Baldwin |first= |title=From Crayons to Condoms: The Ugly Truth about America's Public Schools |year=2008 |publisher=WND Books |isbn=0979267110 |page=138]

In other usage

As a verb phrase

Following on from 'fart' being used to refer to an irritating or foolish person, the verb phrase 'fart around', meaning to spend time foolishly or aimlessly is also utilised. Again this can be in a humorous attempt at a term of endearment, or as an insult. The implication is that the person is being a 'fart', and otherwise is wasting time, or achieving little.

As a lapse in concentration

The term 'brain fart', often used as a synonym for a 'senior moment', or a momentary lapse in concentration or occurrence of forgetfulness, such as an Absence seizure. It is a more modern usage, similar in derivation to the term fart to denote uselessness or a period of low achievement. In some cases, particularly the corporate world, it may be used to describe a situation where a person has spoken out of turn to a superior figure. This usage implies a momentary lack of forethought and a break in good sense, which may be colloquially explained away as the result of a 'brain fart'. [ [http://www.netlingo.com/lookup.cfm?term=brain%20fart net lingo] ]

Other usages

Fart has been used to name cocktails, an example being a 'Duck fart', playing on the humorous reference to flatulence--an example of toilet humour. [ [http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink554.html Drinksmixer.con] ] It has also been used in the term 'fart sack', military slang for a bed or sleeping bag. [ [http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/fart%20sack Fart sack at Sex-lexis] ] A 'nun's fart' is a French term for a type of sweet dessert sprinkled with sugar. [cite book |last=Crumpacker |first=Bunny |title=The Sex Life of Food: When Body and Soul Meet to Eat |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0312363761 |page=124]

References

External links

* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071228/flatulence_expert_071228/ CTV article on Dr. Michael Levitt, the world's leading fart expert]