kerfuffle

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

To all

I got this from another list, and somebody mentioned "kerfuffle", meaning,
apparently, a sort of strong academic argument of little significance
outside that discipline.  I've seen "kerfuffle" used for this kind of
argument for about 10 years or so. Where did it originate?  Is it a "made
up" word?
Anne G

>
> On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Larry Trask wrote:
>
> > --On Tuesday, January 8, 2002 5:23 pm +0000 Paul Gross <prghome at aol.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > [LT]
> >
> > > Well, there's another possibility. Perhaps Heidegger, Foucault,
Derrida
> > > and company were not such profound thinkers after all. Perhaps, in
fact,
> > > they were hopelessly shallow but grotesquely overrated. Has anyone
> > > explored *this* possibility? ;-)
> >
> > > Nobody with any hope of academic standing or advancement. But that is
no
> > > reason to conclude that *this* possibility has a low probability. Even
> > > today, five years after the final nosedive of post-structuralism, to
> > > suggest that Foucault (for example) was not only a moral cretin but
also
> > > an erudite bullshit artist is to assure yourself, if you are still
> > > employed in a university, of at least a pitifully small pay raise or
none
> > > next year, and to the loss of your parking place. Even the president
of
> > > Harvard has to learn quickly, if he wants to stay in the job and get
> > > someting done, that there are strict limits to telling the truth
(called
> > > "bluntness") and heavy penalties for exceeding them.
> >
> > Yes; I've heard something about the African Studies kerfuffle at
Harvard,
> > but not much.  I simply don't know whether African Studies at Harvard is
> > respectable, or merely one more outpost of Afro-centric drivel.  Anybody
> > know?
> >
> Afro-American studies at Harvard are the very antithesis of Afro-centric
> drivel.
>
> C. L. Brace
>
>
>
> To view archive/subscribe/unsubscribe/select DIGEST go to
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology
>
> Read The Human Nature Daily Review every day
> http://human-nature.com/nibbs
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>