re: kerfuffle > kafuffle

-- nfogli at IOL.IT
Sat Jan 12 14:46:41 UTC 2002


English Canadians sometimes use an informal variant of "kerfuffle" ( =
fuss, commotion), which is proper to their dialect. They
say "kafuffle." Here is just a written example from a print article
published in 1995:

"The Brockville flag incident only involved a few senior citizens, but
it was blown into a national KAFUFFLE" (My emphasis) ~ Gazette
(Montreal), May 20, 1995

Etymologically, the word may derive from Scots ("curfuffle"), from the
imitative word "fuffle" = to disorder.

Dr. S. Roti

Lexicographer



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