[DL] New Fangled

[Matthew DeForrest <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

Hello, fellow listers!

A while back, someone asked about New Fangled and where it came from (and 
why we don't hear about the French using it on the runways each year).  I 
finally got a chance to check out the Oxford English Dictionary and here's 
what I found:

The phrase is actually quite old.  The initial references come from the 
late 1400s.  It appears to have derived from the German verb fankelin -- to 
trifle (initial entrance into English about 1400).  It has always seemed to 
have had a negative connotation.  The German derivation means that it is 
unlikely for the French to have taken it as a borrow-word.

I hope this helps.

Matt