A chum just sent me an e-mail message in which he explained his absence from the net for a few days by saying that a parasite got into his computer and it "went kafluey." I have heard this word a number of times, usually in connection with machinery which is misbehaving, and always in a form like going kafluey, gone kafluey or went kafluey. Surely this is not a dictionary word but, just as surely, I know what it means.

I would spell it kaflooey, but maybe that's a regional thang...

I thought it was spelled kerflooey, and I believe I've seen it in a dictionary before. For me, it's the stage of misoperation right before kaputt.

Well, I went agoogling and didn't find a dictionary definition, but I did find this amusing page in which kaflooey (my favored spelling)can be found in a definition.
http://www.newmex.com/ebear/dictionary.html

Several words are offered as the "real" word...flooey, kablooey and kaplooey are all variants.

I would spell it kaflooey ...

I thought it was spelled kerflooey ...

One of the truly wonderful things about extra-dictionarial words is that one may spell them however one chooses.

it can be found online here:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0504546.html

and it makes one appearance in OED2+ under the entry for 'makee' (which is identified as "pidgin English");

1992 Newsweek 25 May 91/1 Only under extreme provocation does he unlimber his arsenal and makee kerflooey on the various scumbags that litter his path to peace.

yah, I've seen kerflooey, too. that made me think of kerchoo, and that made me think of kerchief. what's up with ker?

Wasn't there a comic strip or Saturday morning cartoon in the world of Calvin and Hobbes with the name Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey?

one may spell them however one chooses

Yes, however you spell them, they never lose their spell.

Sometimes I think we are studied to the point of aspfixiation.

A misspelled word can distract from the purity of the thought.

Words that have no proper spelling are seen immediately for what they really are.

Let's not get in a kerfuffle over it.

Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey was the book which the little boy wanted read to him at bedtime every night.

Ah, yes! Thank you F. Steve.

Ok, I knew I had seen this word some where so I went and looked in my little pocket dictionary and this is what it said.

ker••floo••ey

Pronunciation: (kur-fl OO'E ), [key]
——adv. go kerflooey,
Informal.to cease functioning, esp. suddenly and completely; fall apart; fail: As soon as the storm hit, every light in town went kerflooey.

Once I found this I knowticed that above it was this definition for Ker, so in answer to your question of what Ker is Etaoin here you go:

ker-
an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words, usually forming adverbs or interjections: kerflop; kerplunk; ker-splosh.
Also, ca-,ka-.


Rev. Alimae

Oooo, I had a Kerplunk when I was a kid. Drove my parents batty all those marbles falling when you took out the wrong stick.

ker-
an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words, usually forming adverbs or interjections: kerflop; kerplunk; ker-splosh.

Also "kertains".

Any kerflop, kerplunk, ker-splosh or even kerfluffle which becomes more than simply a mess for someone to clean up is "kertains" in the end for somebody.

Here is a picture of that with which Bel played as a child:

http://www.toyadz.com/toyadz/ideal/kerplunk.html

P.S. This is my 800th post. Please hold your applause.

an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words

huh. so it really doesn't mean anything. cool.

thanks, Ellie May. more than I knew before...

This is my 800th post. Please hold your applause.

Let the music play! And every single (one) was a homerun, Father Steve.

P.S. Do u get to take your batting average with you when you switch jerseys?

BTW gadflies only keep track of 'near misses'. I had a close call just the other day. Almost knocked me out for the season.

There's always someone swinging at a gadfly. Everyone thinks they've got a score to settle, especially your heavy hitters*.

Gnat King Cole used to say: "It's Gnat for everyone."

*We don't much bother with anyone else. A gnat gets a rush out of fanning the guy with the biggest stick.

A gadfly is nature's way of keeping everything in balance.

It's called gnatural justice.

We like to say "The bigger they come, the harder they fall."

A gnat is a slugger's biggest fan.

Little things count a lot ... even if they don't count for much.

Oops, the link doesn't work F.S. And here I was, all excited.

The whole "toyadz" website is down, for some reason. Perhaps they are dusting the toys. Be patient.

Padre

Visualize a funnel standing on a tray. The top part filled with marbles. The part where the neck narrows has a lot of sticks protruding. The idea is to remove a stick without letting a marble fall through onto the tray. Does that help?

Actually Wow, it was more like a long tube, about four inches in diameter, fourteen of fifteen inches high.

There was a band around the middle with hundreds of little holes where you would stick in "pick-up" sticks at different angles.

Once all the sticks were in, you'd put a load of marbels through the hole at the top and they'd be held back by the pick-up sticks.

Each person would take a turn removing a stick. As more sticks were removed, marbles would start to fall through the ever-growing cracks.

The person with the least amount of marbles at the end of the game would win.

The BIG loser was the one that removed that one pick-up stick that held most of the marbles up high, and they'd all come crashing down, creating an uproar.

Today the website works.

http://www.toyadz.com/toyadz/ideal/kerplunk.html

Yep! That is what I remember playing. Thank you for the link Father Steve.

Rev. Alimae