View source for Normal for Norfolk

{{Short description|Pejorative slang term for abnormality}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Original research|date=May 2021|reason=the article is hardly supported by the original (2003) reference, or by the just-added 2016 reference}}
'''Normal for Norfolk''' (or '''NFN''') is a [[slang]] term used in some parts of England for something that is peculiar, or odd.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm BBC News: Doctor slang is a dying art, 18 August 2003]</ref>

The term comes from [[medical slang]] created by [[physician|doctors]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Normal for Norfolk: Where did the phrase come from? |last1=Cawley |first1=Laurence |last2=Smith |first2=Jodie |work=BBC News |date=24 April 2016 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-36082307}}</ref> to insult their patients.  Utilised by doctors and [[Social Service]]s in [[Norfolk]] and elsewhere to depict patients of lesser intellect, some were moved to record the letters 'NFN' against the personal details of certain [[consumer|client]]s, where they were considered to be a bit strange or had peculiar habits.  According to the [[urban myth]], such clients were so common in that area that they were considered normal as far as Norfolk was concerned.

The term is considered derogatory because it portrays people from Norfolk as normally being strange, or peculiar with an inference that they are in-bred.{{fact|date=December 2021}} The portrayal of people from Norfolk in this light is a common [[stereotype]] in England.{{fact|date=December 2021}}

Within Norfolk itself, the phrase may also be known as "Normal for [[Wisbech]]", which is in neighbouring [[Cambridgeshire]].  Most areas of the country have a regional variation of NFN, e.g. in North-West England, NFS (Normal for [[Stoke on Trent|Stoke]]) may be heard.

''Normal for Norfolk'', was the title of a BBC series, about farmer Desmond MacCarthy, trying to keep [[Wiveton Hall]], his 17th Century manor house, going. This ran for 2 series, of 4 episodes and 6 episodes respectively, in 2016 and 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Normal for Norfolk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ywgml/episodes/guide |website=BBC programmes |publisher=bbc.co.uk |access-date=9 April 2023}}</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Norfolk]]
[[Category:medical slang]]