Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 3.pdf/93

 Funeral. It's not my (or your) funeral, verb. phr. (American).—i.e., It is no business of mine, or yours. Fr., nib dans mes blots (= that is not my affair). Also used affirmatively.

1867. Mrs. Whitney, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life, p. 183. 'It's none of my funeral, I know, Sin Saxon,' said Miss Craydocke. 'I'm only an eleventh-hour helper; but I'll come in for the holiday business that's more in my line.'

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. . This is none of your funeral is heard quite frequently as an indirect rebuke for intermeddling, with the ludicrous undercurrent of thought, that the troublesome meddler has no right to be crying at a strange man's funeral.

1877. Hartford Times, 17 Oct. Senators Blaine and Barnum passed down to New York, en route to Washington, on Wednesday last, when Barnum asked Blaine how he liked the news from Ohio. 'Oh, that isn't my funeral, I want you to understand,' replied the plucky Maine Senator.

1888. Missouri Republican, 8 Apr. After a lot of slides had been exhibited the audience howled for Miss Debar. It got so noisy that Mr. Marsh reluctantly exclaimed—'Well, is this your funeral or mine?'

Fungus, subs. (old).—An old man.

Funk, subs. (old).—1. Tobacco smoke; also a powerful stink. Cf., Ger., funke; Walloon funki.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. What a funk here is! What a thick smoke. Smoak of Tobacco is here! Ibid. Here's a damn'd funk, here's a great stink.

2. (vulgar).—A state of fear; trepidation, nervousness, or cowardice; a stew (q.v.). Generally, with an intensitive, e.g., a 'mortal,' 'awful,' 'bloody,' 'blue,' or 'pissing' funk. Fr., la guenette; le flubart (thieves'); la frousse (also = diarrhœa). It., filo = thread.

1796. Wolcott, Pindarina, p. 59. If they find no brandy to get drunk, Their souls are in a miserable funk.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 21. Up he rose in a funk.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (1890), p. 91. I was in a complete funk.

1837. Barham, I. L., Look at the Clock, ed. 1862, p. 39. Pryce, usually brimful of valour when drunk, Now experienced what schoolboys denominate funk.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 9. The mules, which was a-snorting with funk and running before the Injuns followed her right into the corral, and thar they was safe.

1850. Literary World (New York), 30 Nov. So my friend's fault is timidity I grant, then, that the funk is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission.

1856. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School-days, p. 196. If I was going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk.

1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, p. 30. Lord Clarendon did not get through the business without these failures, which result from the intellectual process termed freely funk.

1861. Macmillan's Magazine, p. 211. I was in a real blue funk.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxvi. I was in a real blue funk and no mistake.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. After the Fire. He was in a mortal funk, no doubt.

1871. Maxwell, in Life (1882), xvi., 382. Certainly [Greek: chlôro\n the/os] is the Homeric for a blue funk.

1888. Cassell's Saturday Journal, 29 Dec., p. 305. You're always in a funk about nothing at all.

3. (schoolboys').—A coward.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. v. Bosher said, 'Let's cut it,' and he and Peebles bolted. (They were neither of them funks, of course, but they lost their heads.)

Verb. (common).—1. To smoke out. See Funk the cobbler.