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#125229 03/15/04 01:06 AM
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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.




#125230 03/15/04 01:12 AM
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I would spell it kaflooey, but maybe that's a regional thang...




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#125231 03/15/04 01:35 AM
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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.


#125232 03/15/04 02:31 AM
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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.


#125233 03/15/04 02:35 AM
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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.



#125234 03/15/04 04:10 AM
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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.


#125235 03/15/04 10:10 AM
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yah, I've seen kerflooey, too. that made me think of kerchoo, and that made me think of kerchief. what's up with ker?




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#125236 03/15/04 11:37 AM
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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?


#125237 03/15/04 12:33 PM
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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.




#125238 03/15/04 03:41 PM
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Let's not get in a kerfuffle over it.


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