Posted by Dave Thewlis on March 29, 2005 at 15:20:54 from 69.107.123.200 user dthewlis.
In Reply to: Re: Coarse Language? posted by Jon on March 29, 2005 at 14:09:30:
A google search on "fracking" turns up quite a lot of current hits. One meaning is "hydraulic fracturing" and has to do with oil. The other is used in phrases like "the fracking flood" and seems more like a euphenism for a commonly-used four-letter swear word in its adjectival form -- it's hard to identify any other suggestion of meaning (such as the ones suggested above).
Ransome's use of the term could be interpreted either way but he probably wouldn't have used a word with a known connotation to a swear word (at least, stronger than "bloody!" or "damn!").