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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
absquatufuffelate?
Probably almost unusable as it stands - but I could (just about) envisage "absquatufuffelation," being, of course, the kerfuffle that follows an absquatulation.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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almost unusable as it stands
Is absquatulation necessarily clandestine? If not I could well imagine someone making a great disturbance while absquatulating.
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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Is absquatulation necessarily clandestine?
From its etymology, I think it must be so - if you remember, the "squattle" bit of absquatulation is a reference to the manner in which Native Americans decamped overnight without anyone being aware of it.
For that matter, absconding has a clandestine air to it.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
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Is absquatulation necessarily clandestine? If not I could well imagine someone making a great disturbance while absquatulating.Yes, a sudden silence can be very disturbing, can't it?  (32...33...good show!)  [if you count the fuffle forms] And, of course, The Great Sasquatchulation would be the disappearance of Bigfoot. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>from the Quinion link: Up to the 1960s, it was written in all sorts of ways - curfuffle, carfuffle, cafuffle, cafoufle, even gefuffle (a clear indication that its main means of transmission was in speech, being too rarely written down to have established a standard spelling). But in that decade it suddenly became much more popular and settled on the current kerfuffle.
Intriguing to think there may still be words around that are spoken, but rarely written.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
> have seen numberous reports of people who make purchases on e-bay getting kerfuffled.
Fortunately, no vendor has ever absquatalated with my lucre from an ebay transaction - all of mine have gone without a hitch. The kerfuffle that prompted this thread had to do with a third-party service provider, not the vendor or ebay itself.
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I certainly would not have known the word kerfuffle out of any context. Had I been subscribing to wwftd way back in them days, I doubt I would remember it. Howmsoeverthemoreorless, in context I would suspect that I would be able to divine the meaning. But no way of knowing that, now.
Quite appropriate behaviour for the Archdruid of Canterbury, Faldo. Do you do tealeaves as well?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Intriguing to think there may still be words around that are spoken, but rarely written
Jeez, Juan, you wanna live where I live! You hear words every day for which the provenance is unclear, the meaning muddied and the pronunciation mangled. I'd hate to try to write any of them down!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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You are not alone with this impression, Dear Capital Kiwi. Sometimes I wonder even how to "parse" the sounds I hear (among the youngsters in the bus, for example) into what might be called "words".
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