So the OED online is free for a fortnight. Enter ‘trynewoed’ as your username and password.

I read last night in a book on word origins that “frig” actually has a long history of being used as a euphemism for that grosser word that also begins with f. In fact, my book claimed, “frig” was early on just as naughty.

The OED confirms that “frig” has been around for awhile with a sexual meaning, since at least the 1500s. Not a Mormonism, apparently.

” Frickin’ ” is also a word of general attestation, though it appears to originate in the US early in the 20th as a euphemism and have no independent history.

Its interesting that my word book claims that changing a ‘u’ to an ‘i’ is a common way of making a word sound less robust, thinner, and adding an ‘r’ in the middle is a common way of making a word sound more comic. Perhaps something like that was at work with frickin’.

” Flippin’ ” also has a non-Mormon history back to the early 20th as a euphemism.

“Fudge” has an 18th and 19th century meaning of “Nonsense!” or “BS!” Our way of using it as another f-word euphemism is apparently an innovation.

“Fetch” as a euphemism is wholly our own. “Freak” is nothing but Mormon.

I am also happy to report that the OED knows not “shizz.” Apparently we Mormons came up with that one all on our own, probably while under the influence of Ether.