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FartWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Fart
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

FartisawordintheEnglishlanguagemostcommonlyusedin
referencetoflatulence.Thewordfartisoftenconsidered
unsuitableinformalsituationsasitmaybeconsideredvulgaror
offensive.Fartcanbeusedasanounoraverb.[1]Theimmediate
rootsareintheMiddleEnglishwordsferten,feortanandfarten,
kinoftheOldHighGermanwordferzan.Cognatesarefoundin
oldNorse,SlavicandalsoGreekandSanskrit.Thewordfarthas
beenincorporatedintothecolloquialandtechnicalspeechofa
numberofoccupations,includingcomputing.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Vulgarityandoffensiveness
2.1 Historicalexamples
2.2 Modernusage

Germanpeasantsgreetthefireand
brimstonefromapapalbullofPopePaul
IIIinMartinLuther's1545Depictionsof
thePapacy

3 Seealso
4 References
5 Furtherreading
6 Externallinks

Etymology
TheEnglishwordfartisoneoftheoldestwordsintheEnglishlexicon.ItsIndoEuropeanoriginsare
confirmedbythemanycognatewordsinsomeotherIndoEuropeanlanguages:ItiscognatewithGreek
(perdomai),aswellastheLatinpdre,Sanskritpardate,Avestanpraiti,Italianfareunpeto,
French"pter",Russian(perdet')andPolish"pierd"<<PIE*perd[breakwindloudly]or*pezd
[thesame,softly],allofwhichmeanthesamething.LikemostIndoEuropeanrootsintheGermanic
languages,itwasalteredunderGrimm'slaw,sothatIndoEuropean/p/>/f/,and/d/>/t/,astheGerman
cognatefurzenalsomanifests.[2][3][4][5]

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Vulgarityandoffensiveness
Incertaincirclesthewordisconsideredmerelyacommonprofanity
withanoftenhumorousconnotation.Forexample,apersonmaybe
referredtoasa'fart',oran'oldfart',notnecessarilydependingon
theperson'sage.Thismayconveythesensethatapersonisboring
orundulyfussyandbeintendedasaninsult,mainlywhenusedin
thesecondorthirdperson.Forexample,'"he'saboringoldfart!"
Howeverthewordmaybeusedasacolloquialtermofendearment
orinanattemptathumorousselfdeprecation(e.g.,insuchphrases
as"IknowI'mjustanoldfart"or"youdoliketofartabout!").'Fart'
isoftenonlyusedasatermofendearmentwhenthesubjectis
personallywellknowntotheuser.
Inbothcasesthough,ittendstorefertopersonalhabitsortraitsthat
Ahumorousfartsign.
theuserconsiderstobeanegativefeatureofthesubject,evenwhen
itisaselfreference.Forexample,whenconcernedthatapersonis
beingoverlymethodicaltheymightsay'IknowI'mbeinganoldfart',potentiallytoforestallnegative
thoughtsandopinionsinothers.Whenusedinanattempttobeoffensive,thewordisstillconsidered
vulgar,butitremainsamildexampleofsuchaninsult.ThisusagedatesbacktotheMedievalperiod,
wherethephrase'notworthafart'wouldbeappliedtoanitemheldtobeworthless.[6]

Historicalexamples
ThewordfartinMiddleEnglishoccursin"SumerIsIcumenIn",whereonesignofsummeris"bucke
uerte"(thebuckfarts).ItappearsinseveralofGeoffreyChaucer'sCanterburyTales.In"TheMiller's
Tale",AbsolonhasalreadybeentrickedintokissingAlison'sbuttockswhenheisexpectingtokissherface.
HerboyfriendNicholashangshisbuttocksoutofawindow,hopingtotrickAbsolonintokissinghis
buttocksinturnandthenfartsinthefaceofhisrival.In"TheSummoner'sTale",thefriarsinthestoryare
toreceivethesmellofafartthroughatwelvespokedwheel.
Intheearlymodernperiod,thewordfartwasnotconsideredespeciallyvulgaritevensurfacedinliterary
works.Forexample,SamuelJohnson'sADictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,publishedin1755,included
theword.Johnsondefineditwithtwopoems,onebyJonathanSwift,theotherbySirJohnSuckling.[7][8]
BenjaminFranklinpreparedanessayonthetopicfortheRoyalAcademyofBrusselsin1781urging
scientificstudy.In1607,agroupofMembersofParliamenthadwrittenaribaldpoementitledThe
ParliamentFart,asasymbolicprotestagainsttheconservatismoftheHouseofLordsandtheking,James
I.[9][10]

Modernusage
Bytheearlytwentiethcentury,theword"fart"hadcometobeconsideredvulgarinmostEnglishspeaking
cultures.WhilenotoneofGeorgeCarlin'soriginalsevendirtywords,henotedinalaterroutinethatthe
wordfart,oughttobeaddedto"thelist"ofwordsthatwerenotacceptable(forbroadcast)inanycontext
(whichhavenonoffensivemeanings),anddescribedtelevisionas(then)a"fartfreezone".[11]Thomas
Wolfehadthephrase"afizzingandsulphuricfart"cutoutofhis1929workLookHomeward,Angelbyhis
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publisher.ErnestHemingway,whohadthesamepublisher,
acceptedtheprinciplethat"fart"couldbecut,onthegroundsthat
wordsshouldnotbeusedpurelytoshock.[12]Thehippiemovement
inthe1970ssawanewdefinitiondevelop,withtheuseof"fart"asa
personalnoun,todescribea"detestableperson,orsomeoneofsmall
statureorlimitedmentalcapacity",gainingwiderandmoreopen
usageasaresult.[13]
Rhymingslangdevelopedthealternativeform"raspberrytart",later
shortenedto"raspberry",andoccasionallyabbreviatedfurtherto
"razz".Thiswasassociatedwiththephrase"blowinga
raspberry".[14]Thewordhasbecomemoreprevalent,andnow
featuresinchildren'sliterature,suchastheWaltertheFartingDog
seriesofchildren'sbooks,RobertMunsch'sGoodFamiliesDon't
andTheGasWePassbyShintaCho.
AccordingtoTheAlphabetofManliness,theassigningofblamefor
fartingispartofaritualofbehaviour.Thismayinvolvedeception
andabackandforthrhyminggame.[15]Derivedtermsincludefanny
fart(queef),brainfart(slangforaspecialkindofabnormalbrain
activitywhichresultsinhumanerrorwhileperformingarepetitive
task,ormoregenerallydenotingadegreeofmentallaxityorany
taskrelatedforgetfulness,suchasforgettinghowtoholdafork)and
oldfart.

Treason!!!JohnBullemitsan
explosiveboutofflatulenceata
posterofGeorgeIIIasanoutraged
WilliamPitttheYoungeradmonishes
him.Newton'setchingwasprobablya
commentonPitt'sthreat(realizedthe
followingmonth)tosuspendhabeas
corpus.

ThestandupcomicGeorgeCarlinaddedthewordtohislistof"SevenWordsYouCanNeverSayon
Television".[16]

Seealso
Flatulencehumor
LePtomane
Queef

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

"Dictionary.com".Dictionary.reference.com.Retrieved20101112.
TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage(4thedition,2000)
DictionnaireHachettedelaLangueFranaise,(Hachette,1995)ISBN0317456296
T.G.Tucker,EtymologicalDictionaryofLatin,(Halle,1931,repr.AresPublishers,1985)ISBN0890051720
Liberman,Anatoly(July25,2012)."Puzzlingheritage:Theverb'fart' ".OUPBlog.RetrievedJuly25,2012.
Hughes,Geoffrey(2000).AHistoryofEnglishWords.BlackwellPublishing.p.130.ISBN063118855X.
Evans,Ron(2002).ComingHome:SaskatchewanRemembered.DundurnPressLtd.p.95.ISBN1550023799.
"Anillwind.Somefascinatingfactsaboutfarting".Davyking.com.c.1985.Retrieved20101112.
Marotti,Arthur(1995).Manuscript,print,andtheEnglishrenaissancelyric.CornellUniversityPress.p.113.
ISBN0801482380.
10. Curtis,Polly(20050623)."Odetofartgetsairingatlast".London:Guardian.Retrieved20101112.
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11. "http://wayback.archive.org/web/20070715090842/http://www.georgecarlin.com/dirty/dirty3.html".George
Carlin.Archivedfromtheoriginalon20070715.Retrieved20091007.Externallinkin|title=(help)
12. Leff,Arthur(1997).HemingwayandHisConspirators:Hollywood,Scribners,andtheMakingofAmerican
CelebrityCulture.Rowman&Littlefield.p.105.ISBN0847685454.
13. McCleary(2004).TheHippieDictionary:ACulturalEncyclopediaofthe1960sand1970s.TenSpeedPress.
p.174.ISBN1580085474.
14. Burridge,Kate(2005).WeedsintheGardenofWords:FurtherObservationsontheTangledHistoryofthe
EnglishLanguage.CambridgeUniversityPress.p.28.ISBN0521853133.
15. Maddox,AngeloVildasol.AlphabetofManliness.p.64.
16. Carlin,George."FilthyWords".UniversityofMissouriKansasCity.RetrievedSeptember24,2015.

Furtherreading
Dawson,Jim(2010).Didsomebodysteponaduck?:anaturalhistoryofthefart.Berkeley,Calif:
TenSpeedPress.ISBN1580081339.

Externallinks
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Fart&oldid=690243352"

Lookupfartin
Wiktionary,thefree
dictionary.

Categories: Flatulence Digestivesystem

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