[Ads-l] dead fucking boring - infix diagnostic

[Barretts Mail]

“Fucking” and variations (blooming, bloody) are the few options for infixing in English. 

(Comic: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8463 <http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8463>)

Although it’s possible to parse “dead fucking boring” as “dead boring and fucking boring”, I’m inclined to parse “fucking” as an infix between the two. It, as well as “dead bloody boring”, comes up on Google.

Here are some tests that don’t come up on Google:

dead terribly boring (dead, terribly boring meaning dead and terribly boring is on Google)
dead frighteningly boring
dead jacked boring =? dead-jacked boring

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org