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Colder than flugen

Posted by ESC on November 26, 2008 at 19:26

In Reply to: Colder than flugen posted by James Briggs on November 26, 2008 at 18:08:

: : My grandparents in Southern Kentucky used the phrase to describe a bitterly cold day as:

: : "It's colder than flugen!". I am not sure where it is from or what the spelling is. I have looked for it spelled flugen and floogen but have not found anyone who knew the origin.

: It could be derived from the Swedish town Flugen. It looks as if it could turn pretty cold there. Do you have any Swedish connections?

I live in Kentucky. I'll ask around at work next week and see if anyone has heard this phrase.

Flugens -- An intensive, chiefly southern. Hell, the dickens, tarnation, often in "cold as (blue) flugens." Also, from 1830, "making money like flugens." Also, flugens, furiously, in a rush. Other spellings: flugins, flujens, flujin. From "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Page 499.

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