facetious (adjective)
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour; flippant. (OD)
factitious (adjective)
Artificially created or developed. (OD)
Produced by humans rather than by natural forces. Formed by or adapted to an artificial or conventional standard. Produced by special effort; sham. (MW)
Not genuine, intrinsic, natural, or spontaneous; inauthentic; artificially created or developed; made up for a particular occasion or purpose; arising from custom, habit, or convention. Made by human beings, often in imitation of something natural; artificial; manufactured. (OED)
In medicine: Of a disorder, symptom, etc.: Feigned or self-induced by a patient, especially (in later use in psychiatry) solely in order to obtain medical attention. (OED) See: Munchausen Syndrome
faff (verb and noun)
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour; flippant. (OD)
factitious (adjective)
Artificially created or developed. (OD)
Produced by humans rather than by natural forces. Formed by or adapted to an artificial or conventional standard. Produced by special effort; sham. (MW)
Not genuine, intrinsic, natural, or spontaneous; inauthentic; artificially created or developed; made up for a particular occasion or purpose; arising from custom, habit, or convention. Made by human beings, often in imitation of something natural; artificial; manufactured. (OED)
In medicine: Of a disorder, symptom, etc.: Feigned or self-induced by a patient, especially (in later use in psychiatry) solely in order to obtain medical attention. (OED) See: Munchausen Syndrome
faff (verb and noun)
British
verb: To spend time in ineffectual activity. (NOA)
To make a fuss over nothing. (MW)
noun: A great deal of ineffectual activity. (NOA)
Often used with about or around: Faff about or faff around.
falderal (noun) also folderol
Trivial or nonsensical fuss. (OD)
Nonsense (MW)
A useless ornament or accessory; trifle. (MW)
See: truffery
farrago (noun)
A confused mixture. (OD)
Hodgepodge. (MW)
fatwa (noun)
A ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority. (NOA)
An official statement or order from an Islamic religious leader. (CD)
Religious edict. (Christopher Hitchens writing in Vanity Fair)
fecalized environment (noun)
Karin McQuillan referring to Africa: "In plain English: Shit is everywhere. People defecate on the open ground, and the feces is blown with the dust – onto you, your clothes, your food, the water. [A doctor] warned us the first day of training: Do not even touch water. Human feces carries parasites that bore through your skin and cause organ failure." (Karin McQuillan, What I Learned in the Peace Corps in Africa, AmericanThinker.com, 2018)
Note: Seems hotly debated on the internet as to the cause: Culture, poverty, etc. In fact, here is an interesting alternative view: Senegal Is Not A Shithole, (TheAmericanConservative.com, 2018). I love this line: "There is no cultural commitment to open defecation."
But my question is: How hard is it to build latrines?
fecalized environment (noun)
Karin McQuillan referring to Africa: "In plain English: Shit is everywhere. People defecate on the open ground, and the feces is blown with the dust – onto you, your clothes, your food, the water. [A doctor] warned us the first day of training: Do not even touch water. Human feces carries parasites that bore through your skin and cause organ failure." (Karin McQuillan, What I Learned in the Peace Corps in Africa, AmericanThinker.com, 2018)
Note: Seems hotly debated on the internet as to the cause: Culture, poverty, etc. In fact, here is an interesting alternative view: Senegal Is Not A Shithole, (TheAmericanConservative.com, 2018). I love this line: "There is no cultural commitment to open defecation."
But my question is: How hard is it to build latrines?
fiduciary (noun or adjective)
A relationship wherein one party imposes special trust and confidence in another party, usually involving the holding or managing of money or other property. Also refers to the party in whom the special trust and confidence is placed. So, one who acts on behalf of another, putting that person’s interests first and certainly ahead of their own. (RM)
fiefdom (noun)
An area over which someone exercises control as or in the manner of a feudal lord. An area over which a person has control. (MW)
A territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group. (OD)
Often derogatory.
filth (noun)
Acronym: Failed in London; tried Hong Kong.
fintech (noun)
Computer programs and other technology used to support or enable banking and financial services. (OD)
first water (noun, phrase)
Of a diamond or pearl: Of the greatest brilliance and transparency. (OD)
Of gems: The purest luster. Also: The highest grade, degree or quality. (MW)
Used to refer to a person or thing that is unsurpassed of their kind, typically in an undesirable way. (OD)
Used chiefly: …of the first water.
Examples: A safecracker or thief of the first water; a charlatan of the first water.
fixity (noun)
The state of being unchanging or permanent. (OD)
flaccid (adjective)
fiefdom (noun)
An area over which someone exercises control as or in the manner of a feudal lord. An area over which a person has control. (MW)
A territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group. (OD)
Often derogatory.
filth (noun)
Acronym: Failed in London; tried Hong Kong.
fintech (noun)
Computer programs and other technology used to support or enable banking and financial services. (OD)
first water (noun, phrase)
Of a diamond or pearl: Of the greatest brilliance and transparency. (OD)
Of gems: The purest luster. Also: The highest grade, degree or quality. (MW)
Used to refer to a person or thing that is unsurpassed of their kind, typically in an undesirable way. (OD)
Used chiefly: …of the first water.
Examples: A safecracker or thief of the first water; a charlatan of the first water.
fixity (noun)
The state of being unchanging or permanent. (OD)
flaccid (adjective)
Lacking vigor, force, or effectiveness. (OD)
Soft or weak rather than firm. (CD)
Example: Biden's flaccid leadership.
flagrante delicto See in flagrante delicto
flibbertigibbet (noun)
A frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person. (OD)
A silly flighty person. (MW)
A silly, scatterbrained, garrulous, flighty, or light-headed person. (WN)
flighty (adjective)
Fickle and irresponsible. (OD)
Given to flights of imagination, humor, caprice, etc.; guided by whim or fancy rather than by judgment or settled purpose; fickle, frivolous, inconstant. (OED)
flotsam (noun)
People or things that have been rejected or discarded as worthless. (OD)
Miscellaneous or unimportant material; debris; remains. (MW)
Example: A notebook filled with flotsam and jetsam.
See: jetsam, flotsam and jetsam
flotsam and jetsam (phrase)
Useless or discarded objects (OD)
Odds and ends, bits and pieces.
See: flotsam, jetsam
foist (verb)
To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant; to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit. (MW)
Impose an unwelcome or unnecessary person or thing on. (OD)
Formosa (country)
flagrante delicto See in flagrante delicto
flibbertigibbet (noun)
A frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person. (OD)
A silly flighty person. (MW)
A silly, scatterbrained, garrulous, flighty, or light-headed person. (WN)
flighty (adjective)
Fickle and irresponsible. (OD)
Given to flights of imagination, humor, caprice, etc.; guided by whim or fancy rather than by judgment or settled purpose; fickle, frivolous, inconstant. (OED)
flotsam (noun)
People or things that have been rejected or discarded as worthless. (OD)
Miscellaneous or unimportant material; debris; remains. (MW)
Example: A notebook filled with flotsam and jetsam.
See: jetsam, flotsam and jetsam
flotsam and jetsam (phrase)
Useless or discarded objects (OD)
Odds and ends, bits and pieces.
See: flotsam, jetsam
foist (verb)
To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant; to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit. (MW)
Impose an unwelcome or unnecessary person or thing on. (OD)
Formosa (country)
Former name for Taiwan. (NOA)
franchise (noun)
Definition not found; I could not care less about franchising.
Note: As I have seen this term used, it seems to mean the combined effect of an organization's brand, product quality, reputation, customer good will, and the resulting positive outcome for its business. (RM)
For example: Apple has a great franchise in North America, and is now working on developing similar franchises in China and India.
The closest definition I have found:
An economic franchise arises from a product or service that: (1) is needed or desired; (2) is thought by its customers to have no close substitute and; (3) is not subject to price regulation. The existence of all three conditions will be demonstrated by a company's ability to regularly price its product or service aggressively and thereby to earn high rates of return on capital.
(Warren Buffett, Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders, 1991)
friable (adjective)
Easily crumbled. (OD)
franchise (noun)
Definition not found; I could not care less about franchising.
Note: As I have seen this term used, it seems to mean the combined effect of an organization's brand, product quality, reputation, customer good will, and the resulting positive outcome for its business. (RM)
For example: Apple has a great franchise in North America, and is now working on developing similar franchises in China and India.
The closest definition I have found:
An economic franchise arises from a product or service that: (1) is needed or desired; (2) is thought by its customers to have no close substitute and; (3) is not subject to price regulation. The existence of all three conditions will be demonstrated by a company's ability to regularly price its product or service aggressively and thereby to earn high rates of return on capital.
(Warren Buffett, Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders, 1991)
Easily crumbled. (OD)
fungible (adjective)
Of goods contracted for without an individual specimen being specified, able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable. (OD)
fungibility (noun)
Note: I see no reason why this concept cannot apply to equivalent services.
See: commodity