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Chris -- 2025-05-10
“I stopped smoking about 3 months ago and for some reason I am totally feening for a cig today!!!”
Not sure if this is actually an eggcorn, but thought I’d post it.
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Not an eggcorn, but an interesting etymological development. I first noticed it a couple of years ago in the title of an x-rated Tumblr page: “Feenin’ for Chocolate”. More recently I was reminded of it when I stumbled upon this:
vocalist and musician Tia Cabral moans over a high-pitched, murderous guitar refrain, one that sounds like tiny gremlins fiending for blood
music review
Upon seeing that, I realized that “feening” probably derived from “fiending”, which itself probably came from the noun “fiend” as in “drug fiend”. The implication would be of a craving so strong it can turn a person into an out-of-control fiend. “Feen” doesn’t seem to have made it into standard dictionaries, though it is found in the Urban Dictionary, which, among its several definitions of “feen”, includes this etymological claim which happens to support my assumption:
“At some point I assume somewhere between Generation X and Y someone overheard a word being used and misinterpred it. Now legions of people born after 1977 are saying the word Feen. The word used which they misheard is Fiend defined as a person who is craving something in a maniacle way.
improper use of said non-word:
I’m feening some weed!
propper use:
I’m fiending some weed!”
[Incidentally, this person’s use of “propper” for “proper” could be an eggcorn.]
Last edited by Dixon Wragg (2019-03-03 18:23:15)
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