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I came across this article which suggests that someone recently invented this expression.  

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6784/is_2009_July_7/ai_n32107525/

I have only recently come across it on this forum and I love it but had the impression that it was an old word.  So my question is how long has this expression been around.

Somehow, I thought it was one of those English dialect words, like mither and nesh, which is used in speech but not in the written language (before the days of the internet). 

So it could have been around a long time.

But I could be mistaken.

It's one of those words that, once you start using it, you wonder how you ever did without it.

I`m not sure about firkling but I do go back to the old BBC sites and their spell checker.

One could not use the term `pricking out`-ooeer missus ;D

I thought of a couple of words to say to the `mods` and one of them startd with `F`

Spelt' furkling' it is defined as rummaging around, perhaps furtively and is classed as a fairly new word.

I thought I'd known the term for years. Sure it didn't come from Kenneth Williams in "Round the Horne"?

Quote from: Palustris on October 04, 2010, 16:43:04
Spelt' furkling' it is defined as rummaging around, perhaps furtively and is classed as a fairly new word.

Where i come from that's called 'fossicking' a word I used one day and my OH (English) said I'd made it up...it's in the Shorter Oxford dictionary though.

Found this http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2004/3/31/57231.html

i often have a good fertle about and have been using the word since childhood because my dad used to use the word when he wanted to look at something ;)

Another word more often spelled 'furtle'.

It's what huddie do when they put there hands down the front of there pants as they hang around street corners ;D