BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:44 PM

Dang. I wish my dog could read. Think how much he could learn here.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:41 PM

OK. So, that's the forf end, right?

Damn, I love this place. Learn something new every time I read threads.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:40 PM

a forf is something you use with a knike, for meals.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: pdq
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:31 PM

"I gotta ask: what's a forf?"

The sound a dog makes after trying to eat a Sugar Daddy.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:21 PM

"When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?"

According to Mudcat time, at 7:56 PM.


I gotta ask: what's a forf?

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:18 PM

Ah. Perhaps it is the British who are responsible, Emma. Now that you mention it, I can definitely hear someone like Penelope Rutledge breathlessly saying "Heaven forfend!" It sounds so...patrician.

I think the real reason people like using it is the alliteration...the two "f"'s in the word "forfend". It puts a little more of a flourish in their emphasis of just how much they don't want whatever it is that they are referring to.

On the other hand, the word "forbid" sounds stronger to my ears than "forfend". Not quite as petulant, but definitely stronger.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:11 PM

Forfend as meaning 'forbid' goes back to at least 1823 according to my Oxford Universal Dictionary; the general modern meaning is "to avert" or "ward off".
It's nice to use old meanings once in awhile.

Subject: RE: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: Emma B
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 08:07 PM

It's one of those Brit things LH! - you know we're all a little archaic over here :)

Em - drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches (crusts cut off - of course) whilst holding up her little finger :)

Subject: BS: When did 'forbid' become 'forfend'?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Sep 08 - 07:56 PM

I've been noticing something odd for a few years now, and that is that intellectually-minded people on this forum are using the phrase "heaven forfend". Everybody was saying "heaven forbid" for the last few centuries of our English-speaking culture...certainly for most of my life...but just lately I see people saying "heaven forfend" instead.

What the heck is that about? Do you think it sounds cooler or something to say "heaven forfend"? "Heaven forbid" is the normal expression.

At first I thought "forfend" wasn't even a real word, so I did an online dictionary search. It turns out that forfend is a real word...an archaic one from the 14th century!

Here is the online dictionary info:

forfend
One entry found.

Main Entry: for·fend
Pronunciation: \fȯr-ˈfend\
Function: transitive verb
Date: 14th century
1 archaic : forbid b: to ward off : prevent
2: protect , preserve

Okay, so it is a real word...but man does it ever sound pretentious! Sheesh. Why don't you just say "heaven forbid", like people have been doing for the last few hundred years? And who started this "heaven forfend" craze, anyway? Do you have to hold one pinkie up when you say it? Was it Woody Allen who repopularized the phrase? It sounds like something he might have come up with.