"fuckery"
Mark Mandel
thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 10 15:11:18 UTC 2009
On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 10:22 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote (w.r.t. Russ McClay's Jamaican cite
from "High Times" magazine):
>
> A blend of "fucking + mockery."
Or
- from "fuck" as in "fucked-up" (confused, mixed-up) or "fucking with
us", + the "-ery" suffix used the same way as in "mockery". OED
Online doesn't seem to have that precise use for English, though it
does have it for the French etymon -erie.
- from "fucker" + "-y"3
===
-ery, suffix
1. The Fr. -erie is of two distinct origins: ...
b. ...After the analogy of words thus formed, the suffix -erie was
used to form derivatives immediately from verb-stems. Of the Fr. ns.
in -erie derived from vbs. (either through an agent-noun or directly)
some denote ***a class of actions, as tromperie deceit, f. tromper to
deceive***...
2. a. Of the Eng. words ending in -ery ... ***Many others are
formed on ns. in -er, and are properly examples of the suffix -Y3***
...
===
-y, suffix (3)
This suffix has never been in English a prolific formative, but from
time to time new coinages have been made, e.g. in the 14th cent.
beggerie BEGGARY ... doubtless furthered by the prevalence of the
suffix -ERY.
The majority [of ns. having this suffix] denote a state, condition, or
quality; others denote ***an activity*** or a result of it, as
***blasphemy***, felony, fury, harmony, history, liturgy, memory,
phantasy, poesy, victory.
===
m a m
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