The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162910   Message #3880936
Posted By: Jack Campin
08-Oct-17 - 06:33 AM
Thread Name: BS: Use of the English language
Subject: RE: BS: Use of the English language
Jack, what is a "funling"?

Literally "foundling" but in that context (The Flyting o Dunbar and Kennedie) it seems to mean "runt". "Wan-fukkit" for Dunbar meant that your parents were so unenthusiastic and lackadaisical about fucking each other that they didn't fuck you into existence properly.

I don't think Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, was any relation, but his "Great Cursing" is the work of somebody who could really have used the Internet effectively:

http://www.biggararchaeology.org.uk/pdf_reports/BASTLE_CURSINGS.pdf