"fanelights"

[Lynne Murphy]

Off-list, I've been directed to _fain v2_ in the OED, which says:

   = FEN v.2 Used in the expression fains or fain(s I, fain it, fainit(e)s:
see quots.
1870 N. & Q. 4th Ser. VI. 415/2 ‘Fains’, or ‘Fain it’A term demanding a
‘truce’ during the progress of any game, which is always granted by the
opposing party. Ibid. 517/1 A boy who had ‘killed’ another at marbles, that
is hit his marble, would call out ‘Fain it’, meaning ‘You mustn't shoot at
me in return’; or if a boy was going to shoot, and some inequality of
surface was in his way, which he would have cleared away, his antagonist
would prevent him by calling out ‘Fain clears’. Ibid. 517/2 If a prefect
wants anything fetched for him and does not say by whom, those who wish to
get off going say ‘Fain I’. 1889 BARRÈRE & LELAND Dict. Slang, Faints
[sic], in vogue among schoolboys to express a wish temporarily to withdraw
from participation in the particular sport or game being played. 1891
FARMER Slang, Fains! Fainits! Fain it! 1913 C. MACKENZIE Sinister St. I. I.
vii. 103 He could shout ‘fain I’ to be rid of an obligation and ‘bags I’ to
secure an advantage. 1927 W. E. COLLINSON Contemp. English 14 The custom of
putting oneself out of the game altogether by crossing the fingers and
saying pax! or faynights! [feinaits] or both together. 1948 J. BETJEMAN
Coll. Poems (1958) 150 ‘I'd rather not.’ ‘Fains I.’ ‘It's up to you.’ 1960
Guardian 1 July 9/7 The Englishman..could remain absolutely pax and
fainites. 1969 I. & P. OPIE Children's Games i. 18 This rule is so embedded
in children's minds that their immediate response to the proposal of a game
is to cry out..‘Me fains first’. Ibid., He must safeguard himself by saying
in one gulp, ‘Let's-play-Tig-fains-I-be-on-it’.

Thanks very much!

Lynne
Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer and Head of Department
Linguistics and English Language
Arts B133
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org