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prettygoodwordfainaigue (fuh-NEYG) - v. (Brit. dialect) to shirk, to evade work or responsibility, to renege in card games.
Origin is unknown, but there is one suggestion that it's from feign + ague ("acute illness"), and so "to act sick," but this smacks of folk etymology rather than folk process. It is sometimes speculated that the 1920s Americanism finagle (to cheat or swindle, esp. with crafty, deceitful methods) is derived from this, but there's no strong evidence -- nor, for that matter, any better ideas.
---L.
Origin is unknown, but there is one suggestion that it's from feign + ague ("acute illness"), and so "to act sick," but this smacks of folk etymology rather than folk process. It is sometimes speculated that the 1920s Americanism finagle (to cheat or swindle, esp. with crafty, deceitful methods) is derived from this, but there's no strong evidence -- nor, for that matter, any better ideas.
---L.
