phedinkus

English

Etymology

Coined 1935, by Damon Runyon.[1]

Phonology pseudo-Greek[2] – note the ph. The term may be analyzed as *phe- + dinkus (“contrivance (slang)”), where the prefix is an optional consonant /f/, with the stressless vowel added in the same way as other mutually apophonic prefixes (when the consonant changes, the vowel changes accordingly) such as pi- (pizazz), she- (shebang), etc.[3]

Noun

phedinkus (uncountable)

(obsolete, rare, nonce word) Nonsense, malarkey
- 1935, Damon Runyon, “Tobias the Terrible”, collected in Money from home, Frederick A. Stokes company:
  If I have all the tears that are shed on Broadway by guys in love, I will have enough salt water to start an opposition ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific, with enough left over to run the Great Salt Lake out of business. But I wish to say I never shed any of these tears personally, because I am never in love, and furthermore, barring a bad break, I never expect to be in love, for the way I look at it love is strictly the old phedinkus, and I tell the little guy as much.
- 1994, Gus Lee, China boy: a novel:
  Like yur Uncle Shen, or whatsis phedinkus name. Yur fightin a big street lummox who kicks.

Usage notes

Very rarely used – coined by Runyon decades ago and has not entered common usage, with only very rare usage by other authors; incomprehensible without context or quotation.[4]

References

The Routledge dictionary of modern American slang and unconventional English, by Tom Dalzell, Eric Partridge, 2008, p. 742
I break my word, Ivor John Carnegie Brown, 1951, p. 94, “Damon Runyon’s Broadway argot included ‘the old phedinkus’, which has a Grecian savour.”
“The Iconicity of Consonant Alternation”, Roger W. Wescott, in Functional approaches to language, culture, and cognition: papers in honor of Sydney M. Lamb, (2000), editors David G. Lockwood, Peter Howard Fries, James E. Copeland, p. 208, Table 11, Section 7 “Phoneme Alternation as Affixation”
Guys and Dolls and Other Writings, Damon Runyon, introduction by Pete Hamill, p. viii“Nobody alive knows what a ‘phedinkus’ is, and Runyon’s stories are sprinkled with other words whose meanings have vanished into air. But their meanings can almost alway be deciphered from context.”

Anagrams

shunpiked

[1] The Routledge dictionary of modern American slang and unconventional English, by Tom Dalzell, Eric Partridge, 2008, p. 742

[2] I break my word, Ivor John Carnegie Brown, 1951, p. 94, “Damon Runyon’s Broadway argot included ‘the old phedinkus’, which has a Grecian savour.”

[3] “The Iconicity of Consonant Alternation”, Roger W. Wescott, in Functional approaches to language, culture, and cognition: papers in honor of Sydney M. Lamb, (2000), editors David G. Lockwood, Peter Howard Fries, James E. Copeland, p. 208, Table 11, Section 7 “Phoneme Alternation as Affixation”

[4] Guys and Dolls and Other Writings, Damon Runyon, introduction by Pete Hamill, p. viii“Nobody alive knows what a ‘phedinkus’ is, and Runyon’s stories are sprinkled with other words whose meanings have vanished into air. But their meanings can almost alway be deciphered from context.”

单词	phedinkus
释义	phedinkus English Etymology Coined 1935, by Damon Runyon.[1] Phonology pseudo-Greek[2] – note the ph. The term may be analyzed as *phe- + dinkus (“contrivance (slang)”), where the prefix is an optional consonant /f/, with the stressless vowel added in the same way as other mutually apophonic prefixes (when the consonant changes, the vowel changes accordingly) such as pi- (pizazz), she- (shebang), etc.[3] Noun phedinkus (uncountable) (obsolete, rare, nonce word) Nonsense, malarkey 1935, Damon Runyon, “Tobias the Terrible”, collected in Money from home, Frederick A. Stokes company: If I have all the tears that are shed on Broadway by guys in love, I will have enough salt water to start an opposition ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific, with enough left over to run the Great Salt Lake out of business. But I wish to say I never shed any of these tears personally, because I am never in love, and furthermore, barring a bad break, I never expect to be in love, for the way I look at it love is strictly the old phedinkus, and I tell the little guy as much. 1994, Gus Lee, China boy: a novel: Like yur Uncle Shen, or whatsis phedinkus name. Yur fightin a big street lummox who kicks. Usage notes Very rarely used – coined by Runyon decades ago and has not entered common usage, with only very rare usage by other authors; incomprehensible without context or quotation.[4] References The Routledge dictionary of modern American slang and unconventional English, by Tom Dalzell, Eric Partridge, 2008, p. 742 I break my word, Ivor John Carnegie Brown, 1951, p. 94, “Damon Runyon’s Broadway argot included ‘the old phedinkus’, which has a Grecian savour.” “The Iconicity of Consonant Alternation”, Roger W. Wescott, in Functional approaches to language, culture, and cognition: papers in honor of Sydney M. Lamb, (2000), editors David G. Lockwood, Peter Howard Fries, James E. Copeland, p. 208, Table 11, Section 7 “Phoneme Alternation as Affixation” Guys and Dolls and Other Writings, Damon Runyon, introduction by Pete Hamill, p. viii“Nobody alive knows what a ‘phedinkus’ is, and Runyon’s stories are sprinkled with other words whose meanings have vanished into air. But their meanings can almost alway be deciphered from context.” Anagrams shunpiked
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