Fair clemmed

"Clem" or "clemmed" is old English dialect for suffering from hunger, historically widespread across the north of England and the Midlands, and still very much alive today in places like St Helens and the wider Lancashire and Merseyside area, as well as the Black Country. It likely traces back to an old Germanic root related to pinching or squeezing, similar to the German "klemmen," meaning to pinch or jam, evoking the physical sensation of hunger gripping the stomach. "Fair" here is simply the common Northern English intensifier meaning "really" or "very," the same one heard in "fair knackered," stacked onto "clemmed" for extra emphasis.