Faugh!

interj.

1.

An exclamation of contempt, disgust, or abhorrence.

I looked for "faugh" for so long - that was way back in the days before the internet, and I was too lazy to hie myself to a library (oh, how things change). Of course, I was spelling it "fa" (actually, faaaaa!), so that may have had something to do with it.

Growing up, when I played with my siblings or my friends, if one of us did something wrong (said a swear word, broke a known rule), the others would all point their fingers and say "Faaaa!"

I began to suspect this was some kind of regional expression when I left home for college, said "faaaa" to my classmates in jest, and found that no one had the first clue what I was talking about.

Not long ago, my sister called me, all excited, having discovered, at long last, the origins of our beloved "faugh"; apparently, it's a Shakespearean-era exclamation of disgust or contempt. We used it for shaming purposes, I guess you could say, so I think it fits.

I am left to ponder the sad fate of endangered interjections everywhere. Welladay! Some of these are just too good to let go.

"balls! fiddlesticks! havers! heads up! horsefeathers! rats! spells! begone! behold! bingo! blast! blimey! bother! bullshit! crazy! crikey! damnation! the devil! doggone! god! good! goodness! gracious! grand! hell! honestly! indeed! look! nonsense! silence! so! sod! soft! son of a bitch! son of a gun! upon my soul! up with! upsy-daisey! well! woe! no wonder!"*

*Vladimir Ž. Jovanovi, The Form, Position and Meaning of Interjections in English