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Monday, April 2, 2012

Language Etymology of the Day: Fun

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:22 PM

"Fun" originally meant "cheat."

fun (n.)
"diversion, amusement," 1727, earlier "a cheat, trick" (c.1700), from verb fun (1680s) "to cheat, hoax," of uncertain origin, probably a variant of M.E. fonnen "befool" (c.1400; see fond). Stigmatized by Johnson as "a low cant word." Older sense is preserved in phrase to make fun of (1737) and funny money "counterfeit bills" (1938, though this may be more for the sake of the rhyme).

Here, according to Google, is where you can have "fun" in Seattle:

goog

If you're having trouble having fun, you might try the suggestions on this list of "how to have fun." Step four is: "Use a time-planning tool to plan activities for different days."

That, however, does not sound fun.

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Comments (7) RSS

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Seattle is a fun place. Never more so than when it's sunny like today. Have fun out there!

Posted by Vince on April 2, 2012 at 12:35 PM

I'm glad I'm not the only person who gets to a point where - mindlessly browsing and reading news articles - I type "bored" or "what" or "fun" into a search engine just because........

Internet distraction is harder than TV distraction.

Posted by Foonken2

on April 2, 2012 at 12:56 PM

Yer funnin' me, aintcha?

Posted by Fnarf

on April 2, 2012 at 1:07 PM

Beware the Funpire.

Posted by Zebes

on April 2, 2012 at 3:20 PM

how much time did you spend cropping that map to end at exactly where an elitist seattle person would say seattle is defined by?

Posted by Swearengen on April 2, 2012 at 3:39 PM

Zero! That's what the initial Google hit gave me.

Posted by Brendan Kiley on April 2, 2012 at 4:36 PM

I tried that for my 'hood... Greenwood. Got the Nordic Heritage Museum, Phinney Neighborhood Preschool, Golden Gardens, Sands and Centerfolds nudie bars, a card dealer training academy, a yacht club, and an independent wedding minister. I'm always amazed by how cool Seattle Neighborhoods actually are...

Posted by ballard dude on April 2, 2012 at 5:39 PM