Festuche Redeux

[susandennis]

So last Thursday afternoon I got an email from one of the sales reps announcing (not asking or requesting) that he would have an RFI for me today that is due to the customer electronically by 2 pm. (An RFI stands for Request for Information and is formal document that potential customers send out to vendors. It's generally a long list of questions about the product and company that comes with a lot of rules about how to respond and by when.)

My job is to edit the sucker, clean up the formatting and return to the rep by 2, plus prepare two hard printed copies and one on CD for tonight's postal mail.

This one is fairly hefty - probably in the neighborhood of 50+ pages. I sent a note back to the guy saying that he wasn't leaving me much time to do a good job but that I'd be here at 6 a.m. Monday and dig right in to get it done right and on time.

I was here at 6. Any note from him? Any RFI? No, of course not. It is now 7 and I don't even have a response to my "Any ETA on the RFI?" email of an hour ago. This is going to be a lovely day.

But there is one bright spot...

You may remember my entry about the word festuche. Well, that post turned netted me the must fun email that was waiting for me this morning:

Susan,

Hi there. I'm a former IBM'er from Rochester, MN (now working for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies). I was with IBM for 22 years before corporate headquarters sold our entire division to Hitachi. Anyhow, I just wanted to send you a "thank you" for documenting where the word 'festuche' came from.

I recently heard a program manager (also ex-IBMer) use that word in one of his rants. Others have commented that he uses it all of the time - mostly because our industry is so competitive that even the slightest mistake can become one hell of a festuche in a heartbeat. I've been curious about exactly what that word meant, but was not able to find it in any dictionary. I (wrongly) concluded that this guy simply didn't know what he was saying, though in all other respects he is one of the sharper people I've ever met.

Tonight I thought I'd use the Google search engine to search for 'festuche', 'festoosh', 'fistush', etc. Imagine my surprise when Google directed me to your article documenting the origin of 'festuche'. Thanks much - they'll be no more sleepless nights for me, staring at the ceiling and wondering where 'festuche' came from. ;-)

Sincerely,
Don Reif

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Hmm, what about about festuche, which is italian for festuca the name of a species of grasses usually called fescues?

Comment moved from the entry of Dec. 16

[susandennis]

Posted by anonymous

Just for the record,

Festuche may have been one of those odd port-manteau words
as the term 'Festuche' can refer to a lawn in Italian,
particularly one used for soccer, rough play or parking.
One of the problems with Festuchi is the fact that after
a rough match or use, the ground can be churned up into
a muddy mess. Given the number of Italian Americans who
live in the mid-Hudson valley, the word may not have been
completely original.

Another theory holds the derivation of festuche may have
been another meaning, as Festuca is the botannical genus
of a number of grass plants. To be 'festuched' in that
sense may be to have been smoking (as was once said)
something funny - with the implication that you were not
in control of the situation anymore - perhaps you were
even passed out on the lawn as a result of consuming the
grass, as it were.

In either case, there's a reason to suspect that however
it was introduced into the local lexicon, the word has a
longer and more varied history than we can prove.

Thanks

RE: Comment moved from the entry of Dec. 16

[(Anonymous)]

I have been using the word festuche for years thinking I learned it as a kid from my Italian mom. When I use the word, some people wonder what it means, and I explain it is an old Italian word. But tonight when thinking of the word, I was curious and did a Google search. Much to my surprise, I must have learned the word at IBM. I worked at IBM from 1982 to 2003. I may have been one of those people in a meeting at IBM in Somers NY or some other Westchester location. How funny tonight to discover that I learned it at IBM. A blast from the past. Thank you for your post from 2003 (18 years ago). It made me smile tonight in 2021.

RE: Comment moved from the entry of Dec. 16

[susandennis]

:)