What is the etymology of 'kerfuffle'?
For some reason I imagine it started in the porn industry. I like the idea of a fluffer kerfuffle.
No. You're missing the point. The design of the thing is functional. The plan is not to shoot you. The plan is to get the girl. If there's no girl, then the plan, well, is like the room.
Early ,'Objects In Space'
Natter 36: But We Digress...
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
tommyrot - Jun 15, 2005 12:32:35 pm PDT #2259 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Topic!Cindy - Jun 15, 2005 12:32:52 pm PDT #2260 of 10001
What is even happening?
You say kerfuffle, I say kerfluffle
Will Baude at 09:33 PM
In response to my post below, Dan Moore writes in to gently suggest that I have mis-spelled the word "kerfuffle" by slipping in a superfluous "l". As an investigation of the Crescat archives may reveal, this is not a one-time oversight on my part, but rather repetitive, if perhaps erroneous, usage.
My "kerfluffle" does not appear in the OED or Dictionary.com, and it is outnumbered on Google by about 56 to 4. Still, I like the extra letter, so I thought I should investigate how reasonable it would be to claim the new word as an alternate spelling or new formation.
"Kerfuffle", it turns out, has endured many new and old spellings, including "curfuffle", "kurfuffle," "carfuffle," "gefuffle" and "cafuffle". It started life as a Scottish verb, a variant of "fuffle" (disorder) saddled with an uncertain prefix perh/car/cur/ker/etc.
However, "fuffle" itself began life as a piece of onomatopoeia, so "fluffle" which sounds sweeter and a touch less violent to my ear can make a legitimate claim to being a lighter, fluffier fuffle. Tracing kerfuffle's path, a ker-fluffle becomes a more light-hearted and goodnatured flurry or disarray than its older kin. Henceforth, I will stand by my neologism.
TrackBack URL for this entry: [link]
§ ita § - Jun 15, 2005 12:34:34 pm PDT #2261 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Main Entry: ker·fuf·fle
Pronunciation: k&r-'f&-f&l
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of carfuffle, from Scots car- (probably from Scottish Gaelic cearr wrong, awkward) + fuffle to become disheveled
chiefly British : DISTURBANCE, FUSS
tommyrot - Jun 15, 2005 12:35:34 pm PDT #2262 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Main Entry: ker·fuf·fle
I didn't even know it was a real word.
lisah - Jun 15, 2005 12:37:21 pm PDT #2263 of 10001
Punishingly Intricate
I won't be able to pick up the tape today!
oy bummer. I'll leave it out on the porch for whenever you can pick it up.
kat perez - Jun 15, 2005 12:38:34 pm PDT #2264 of 10001
"We have trust issues." Mylar
Yeah, it's just me and Will Baude against the world.
Rick - Jun 15, 2005 12:39:44 pm PDT #2265 of 10001
Only the Buffistas could start a Kerfuffle about Kerfuffle.
Kat - Jun 15, 2005 12:40:43 pm PDT #2266 of 10001
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Huh. I would love to see the OED citation so we could see when and how it was first used.
tommyrot - Jun 15, 2005 12:41:42 pm PDT #2267 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Huh. I would love to see the OED citation so we could see when and how it was first used.
I bet it was first used in an argument about sheep.
Rick - Jun 15, 2005 12:42:10 pm PDT #2268 of 10001
Huh. I would love to see the OED citation so we could see when and how it was first used.
kerfuffle kerfuffle krfA.f'l. Also kafuffle, kufuffle, gefuffle. [Variant of the Scots curfuffle sb. (perh. influenced by ker-?), now the general form in colloquial use. ]
= curfuffle sb.
* 1946 F. Sargeson That Summer 94, I bet it [sc. the domestic row] ended up in a good old kafuffle.
* 1959 J. Fleming Miss Bones xiv. 150 The kerfuffle over the stolen jewels last week.
* 1960 E. W. Hildick Jim Starling & Colonel viii. 62 Butcher said he didn't know what all the kerfuffle was about.
* 1960 A. Wykes Snake Man iii. 38 After this kufuffle was over and we were on our way again.
* 1965 New Statesman 30 Apr. 693/3 After..some abortive backstage kerfuffles at the National Theatre, Wedekind's Spring Awakening has scraped past the Lord Chamberlain.
* 1968 B. Mather Springers xii. 130 In the kerfuffle of the last half hour I had forgotten the poor soul's personal needs.
* 1973 K. Amis Riverside Villas Murder ii. 40 A lot of our readers are going to think all this kerfuffle over an old skeleton being snatched is..a bit of a joke.