Benjamin Franklin — "scarcely worth a FART-HING"
scarcely worth a FART-HING
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
"If you would have your business done, go; if not, send."
"Many a false step was made by standing still."
"The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much, to contradict seldom, and to use all the good manners one can."
About Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Polymath Founding Father, diplomat, and Poor Richard's Almanack author who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Closely associated with John Adams (fellow Founder, Massachusetts statesman) and Thomas Jefferson (fellow Declaration drafter). For an intellectual contrast, see Thomas Hutchinson, last royal governor of colonial Massachusetts — Franklin leaked Hutchinson's loyalist correspondence to Boston in 1772 to inflame revolutionary sentiment — Hutchinson represented the colonial-aristocrat crown-loyalty that Franklin's revolution was organized to dismantle.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Something is worth essentially nothing — less than the smallest coin in circulation. The deliberate capitalization of 'FART' within 'farthing' doubles the insult: the thing isn't just monetarily worthless, it's not worth a bodily function either. Franklin weaponizes the smallest British coin as both a currency measure and a crude pun, landing a contemptuous dismissal with far more sting than any polite phrasing ever could.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin was celebrated for earthy, irreverent humor — he authored the 1781 essay 'Fart Proudly,' urging the Royal Academy to study pleasant flatulence. A printer by trade, he understood typographic emphasis as a comedic tool. His Poor Richard's Almanack blended practical wisdom with wordplay. This pun — hiding a vulgar word inside a respectable coin name — is pure Franklin: democratic, anti-pompous, and delighted by language that undercuts pretension with a knowing wink.
The era
The farthing was Britain's smallest copper coin — one quarter of a penny — still common in colonial-era commerce, making 'not worth a farthing' a universally understood measure of worthlessness. In the 1700s, Enlightenment print culture was exploding with satire and pamphlets where bawdy wordplay was a recognized comedic tradition. Franklin's typographic trick made the pun visible on the page, exploiting the era's growing literate readership and love of clever, irreverent print humor.
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