Fantods
From Free net encyclopedia
To have "the fantods" is to be in a state of nervousness, distress, or anxiety.
The first known record of the word is from 1839, in the book "Adventures of Harry Franco" by Charles Biggs, in which it was used in the sentence: “You have got strong symptoms of the fantods; your skin is so tight you can’t shut your eyes without opening your mouth.”
Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (1885) said:
- But by and by, sure enough, I catched a glimpse of fire away through the trees. I went for it, cautious and slow. By and by I was close enough to have a look, and there laid a man on the ground. It most give me the fantods.
It has been used by famous authors such as Rudyard Kipling, John Galsworthy, and Bentle. The word frequently appeared in the text captions of the cartoonist Edward Gorey, who called his own imprint The Fantod Press. The word also appears numerous times in David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest".