Meaning
What does Fakakta mean?
A fakakta is a thing, object or person that is completely messed up.
It is not working as it should be, or maybe it should not have been working from the start.
This Yiddish term is the perfect slang for anything that is negative. Your house is falling apart? It’s “fakakta”. Your kid likes eating worms? He’s “fakakta”. You just lost your job, your partner left you and you got kicked out of your house? Well, your life is “fakakta”.
“Fakakta” is one of the most used cuss terms in the Yiddish language.
Origin
What's the origin of Fakakta?
According to Your Dictionary, “fakakta” is just a common mispelling of the term “verkakte”, meaning “shit” or “crappy”.
However, according to C. A. Pinkham’s “A Guide To Swearing In Yiddish”, “fakakta” is a perfectly good Yiddish word on its own.
It is derived from the vulgar Yiddish verb “kakn”, meaning “to shit”.
Spread & Usage
How did Fakakta spread?
The term was defined by Fred Kogos in the dictionary “Book of Yiddish Proverbs and Slang” in 1970. He defined it as meaning “dungy” or “shitty”, and added that it is pronounced along the lines of “feckuckteh”.
It is widely discussed whether the correct spelling is “fakakta”, “ferkakte” or “verkakte”, and there is no correct, nor wrong answer, because all are just transliterations from the Hebrew alphabet.
“Fakakta” is likely the most anglified version of the term.
External resources
- Odyssey – 20 Words All Jewish Kids Grew Up Hearing