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Joined: Jul 2002
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OP
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Trying to complete a needlessly complicated transaction at ebay recently, I was inclined to use kerfuffle in an email to the vendor. I thought better of donig so, thinking it possible that the word is not well known in the US. Was this a correct assumption? If so, what do USns use in place of this wonderfully expressive term?
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Joined: Dec 2000
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> thinking it possible that the word is not well known in the US. Was this a correct assumption? I'm not American, but I will jump in and mention that neither 'kerfuffle' nor 'carfuffle' are included in the American Heritage Dict. (www.dictionary.com) - which was a big surprise to me. This seems to indicate that your reservation about using it was not wrong - it is after all a pretty old fashioned word, I think. M-Webster's includes it and suggests it has a Scottish etymology, btw. I also stumbled on a link where people had been writing in to complain about the use of 'kerfuffle' in a newspaper column. The writer pokes fun at the letters:
Gerry Nelson, retired Associated Press reporter, said: "The use of unfamiliar words and gratuitous foreign phrases in the Star Tribune has been a pet peeve for years. The purpose of the newspaper is to transfer information, easily and understandably, from inside the head of the writer to the head of the reader."
"Any impediments to that ('kerfuffle') are stupid and boastful. They exist for only one purpose ('raison d'être'): to flaunt the writer's supposed erudition. Why don't they simply post signs in the newsroom proclaiming, 'I have a master's degree'?
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/2921494.html
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear sjm: I have no doubt that the word "kerfuffle" would be understood, but unless you
are not longer hopeful of vendor being reasonable, I would not use a word that could
suggest you are seriously annoyed with him. You might cause him to be even less
helpful.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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While certainly not in common use, or familiar to most USns, kerfuffle may have survived in some of the mountain dialects of Appalachia and the Ozarks, and perhaps it even crept into Southren speech for awhile (Wordwind? Jackie? AnnaS? Chemeng? Milum?) Because I vaguely remember hearing it used in just such a way in a book or film (at least, I don't think it was first-hand) "Why y'all raisin' such a kerfuffle about it?" Much in the same way as "raise a fuss."
Actually, I seem to remember actor Denver Pyle using it (no, not on The Dukes of Hazard...back when I was a kid).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 11:31:17 CDT
the worthless word for the day is: kerfuffle
kerfuffle - [Brit] a disturbance
(on that day I had precisely 11 subscribers, so I didn't increase usage of the word very much!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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(on that day I had precisely 11 subscribers, so I didn't increase usage of the word very much!)Well, I love this one, tsuwm! So I'm puttin' kerfuffle right up near the top of my "bring it back to life" list, right alongside absquatulate and some others, so let's spread the wealth!  'Course, I'll have to make sure to check in with my collaborator, Rhuby, on this. 
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Although this word is new to me, its sound evokes its meaning beautifully, much better than "fuss". I picture e.g. my life partner desperately searching for her lighter after having abstained from smoking for 2 hours .
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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'Course, I'll have to make sure to check in with my collaborator, Rhuby, on this.
There is no problem about this one. Whilst it isn't exactly an everyday word for me, (possibly because of my mellow life-style ) it is certainly one which I use from time to time: mostly in relation to my three cats, who do tend to go about their business with a great deal of kerfuffle during the short time that they are awake each day. We don't seem to have seen much absquatulation around here recently, so the word is resting lightly on the shelf. However, it is close to hand for when the moment arises. 
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Looks like someone's chance to absquatulate without any kerfuffle. In fact, if you decamp with a kerfuffle, then you are most definitely not absquatulating! BTW, is an habitual and well-practised absquatulator an absquatulatitioner? 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Are you trying to convince us that you do not have the experiential knowledge to give us a definitive answer? 
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