MARILYN CORNWELL: Marilyn's Photos - May 19 2026

Feckless seems to me to be a term more common in Britain than in North America. And That would be because it originated in Scotland and is a combination of feck - for effect and the suffix less. So it means effectless - lacking vigour, purpose and responsibility. Because it is the more common word, one wouldn't today say that someone was feckful. It sounds like it would be undermining the person. Feck alone seems to have a sense of being without any effect. And then it is an alternate version of the F-word - so feck off would be a snobbish insult at best.

In fact, that poor word has come to mean poo, damn, bollocks, dammit, drat, heck, hell, blast, botheration, damnation and more. In fact, many more. These come from the dictionary wordhippo.com.

I guess that leads to "frick." This is a 20th century word meaning a "minced oath" and is also a substitute for the F-word. It has similar phonetics and rhythmic cadence, like "feck." And what about "frick?" That seems to fit in as well - it used to mean lively, brisk or vigorous. Gone are those good thoughts.

The lineage of "minced oaths" seems quite substantial.