Last week, while learning that Hitler was a fascist (to be clear, this wasn’t me learning things about Hitler—this was me learning how far the definition of fascist can reach), I also learned that fascist and fajita have the same Latin root. I got a big kick out of this.
Evidently, the term fascism comes from the fasces, an ancient Italian (first Etruscan, then Roman) symbol of power. It’s an ax head protruding from a bundle of rods, and its name is an adaptation of the Latin word “fascis,” which means “bundle.” Fajita? That also comes from fascis. Fascis was adapted into “faja” when Latin turned into Spanish in some parts of the world (editor’s note: Spain). Faja means strip, or belt, or wrapper. Google Translate says it’s “a wad of bills.” You could use a faja to pay for a fajita. If you used a fasces, you wouldn’t have to pay.
Now, some of you are wondering, and yes, I think Fajitas with Fascists would be a great addition to the Donuts with Dads and Muffins with Moms traditions at American public elementary schools. Find out which kids have the militaristic parents, then put them in a government database. What? The fascists are the ones who like state power so much.
Now, others of you are wondering, and yes, f*ggot probably has the same root as fascist and fajita. Its original definition is “bundle of sticks,” with some saying it got its current meaning because it was used to refer to old women who gathered sticks in England to sell as firewood, and that it then became used for men who did work perceived as feminine in nature. (There is a wild Wikipedia page about the British schoolboy practice of “fagging.” Messed up Brits, man. Messed up Brits.) Others say the non-fuck f-word came about from the Greek root “phakelos,” which also means bundle, but then others say the Romans got fasces from phakelos, so who knows. What does it all mean for us? Nothing, I don’t think. Unless there’s something Joe Stunardi isn’t telling me. Fajitas with Fascist F*****s has a different implication than Fajitas with Fascists, and I’m not about it.
Finally, still others of you are wondering how feces fits into all of this, and that appears to come from a different Latin root. Faecēs. “Residue, dregs.”
As Dr. Dre might say:
Fascists ain’t shit.
