FAXÜ PLURAL NOUN

Colloquially, facts, information, 'gen'. Etymology: A playful respelling of facts (compare sox for socks), in this case reflecting the lack of a t sound in most people's casual pronunciation of the word. History and Usage: This spelling of facts was devised by Thackeray in his Yellowplush correspondence: Fashnable fax and polite annygoats, first published in 1837. It has been common in popular magazines and newspapers using normal modern orthography since about the 1970s and had formed the second element of trade marks (see Ceefax and Filofax) for decades before that. However, it was only when the Filofax and facsimile (fax°) became fashionable in the eighties that fax really acquired any popular currency as a word in its own right; the increasing emphasis on information as a commodity in eighties culture has helped it to establish a place in the language that is not simply a newspaper editor's pun. Eco-fax. These pages are designed for you to fill in the address and/or telephone numbers you may need. John Button How to be Green (1989), p. 230