I don’t actually agree on the idea that feck is an equivalent of the schoolteachers ‘Ah Sugar!’. it’s a form all of it’s own. in a recent discourse on the IrTrad list [triggered by another US citizen who seemingly never watched father Ted] it was I believe Paul de Grae who came up with an example like ‘Ah Feck, the fecking fecker fecked my feckin pint’. it’s jsut a staple word in irish speak.
Peter, the term “feck” is older than the IrTrad list and Paul de Grae combined. Another alternative that used to be used for “f*ck” was “frig”. Not sure exactly how old these terms are, but they go back at least a century, and probably further. Same for other little letter substitutions like “darn” for “damn” and “gosh” for “God”. Unfortunately, I have not found a definitive study on the etymology of cursing and swearing in the English language that could verify the age or origins of these terms. Just doesn’t seem to attract the academics. 
djm
“Frig” is not to “f*ck” what “darn” is to “damn” or “gosh” to “god.” Darn is just an alteration of the word damn to make it palatable in company. Frig has it’s own meaning (to rub or manipulate something, as with a finger). I don’t know about feck, but it strikes me that the relative age of the word on the one hand and the IrTrad list and Paul de Grae on the other sheds little or no light on the matter.
Bloomfield, DJM failed to see the point i was making, not for the first time by the way.
Bloom, that’s not the way “frig” is used around here, nor in references I have found that go back to the 1930s.
Peter, I guess you’re just too darn clever for me. Pity you can’t communicate that cleverness as well.
djm
Yeah, I guess these terms have different cultural connotations over there. My boyfriend is from Ireland and he was trying to explain to me the difference between “whore” and “hoor” but it’s all over my head.
J.
OK, I have to add that he was not referring to me. 
I’ve heard that also (de Sade)
J.
Feodogin refrains from signing her usual ‘Justine’ there 
Hoor comes usually in combination with ‘cute’. A Cute Hoor.
Main Entry: frig
Pronunciation: 'frig
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): frigged; frig·ging
Etymology: Middle English fryggen to wriggle
usually vulgar : COPULATE – sometimes used in the present participle as a meaningless intensive
I’m mostly able to follow the posts around here, thanks for asking!
Laban, are you tutoring at Clancy Week this year?
E.
I usually try to go into hiding for the week
Don’t believe him, there’s no escaping this guy.
Well, I did have to read the book just because of the name. 
It’s pretty stupid, though, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Justine
Emer is correct: I heard back from Andy Irvine, and he confirmed that it’s Donal Lunny on the recording; the only song he has sung with Planxty to date.
Whoops… I did post the missing bean phaidin words but then noticed someone else had!
Great site
Laura
I adhere to my mum and dad’s unspoken rule that obtained in our house when I was a nipper when posting. Bloody, bugger, sod - no sweat. Sht and pss need a . As does bstard, though a good alternative for UK sitcom watchers is b’stard, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable. I got bleeped for typing “bleep” the other day, so if consistency is the name of the game you won’t know what that word was. It was cowsh*t, so there. I ain’t got no time for f-words on line no matter how they are dressed up. I can find summat else.
Steve, this thread is two years old, for feck sake. Give it a rest.
djm
Recte: “for feck’s sake”, for feck’s sake .
PS - drifting back almost on topic - my sister used to sing Bean Pháidín when she was in her secondary school choir several decades ago. She didn’t drag out the two syllables of the word “Pháidín” the way Lunny does, and that seems to be just his idiosyncrasy.
If you play these notes (and of course the corresponding notes throughout the tune) short, the tune becomes a perfectly nice slip jig, though I’ve never heard anyone playing it as a dance tune. Must try it this weekend, at the Belgian tionól in the Ardennes.
Roger, sake of feck is not clear, for feck sakes.
Also, since the original thread, Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola has put out a very nice recorded version of Bean Pháidín on her first album, An Raicin Alainn, which was a very good album overall. Her second album, Flame of Wine, is absolute shite, and I would warn anyone away from it.
I have heard several people play the Bean Pháidín tune as a straight slip jig, but I don’t recall hearing it recorded.
djm