Infix! What have YOU learned today?

December 9th, 2008

I stumbled upon this The Straight Dope article today via Twitterland:
What’s the origin of “fuckin’ A”?

I never really questioned the meaning of fuckin’ A, and never really thought about its origin. As I thought about not having thought about it, it struck me odd that I never had thought to think about it, since it is something about which I would SO likely think.

(Congratulations if you’re still upright after reading that last sentence.)

Within the inherent lewdness of the research topic, I reached this line and froze in my tracks:

The phrase has been an adverb, an adjective, an infix (an affix stuck into the middle of a root, e.g., “abso-fuckin’-A-lutely”),…

An infix? I’ve never heard of this term before! How is it I have been unfamiliar with this term my entire life?!?! I felt tingly upon reading it. I felt like another piece of the mysterious puzzle that is Regina Rivera was found. I read it over and over about 5 times.

Infix. Infix. Infix. Infix. Infix.

Then I caught myself. And felt like a total geek.

Then I didn’t care.

INFIX! INFIX! INFIX! INFIX! INFIX!

Commit it to memory.

Did I somehow miss this in my beloved Strunk & White? Y’all know I’m going to rush home and look it up.

Anyway…

So, I finally got around to reading the rest of the page. Then this appeared: