kerfuffle

[John Blower]

At 11:32 AM 1/10/02 -0800, you wrote:
>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


I have no notion of its origins (Concise OED: fuss, commotion (colloq.)),
but it was a not uncommon word when I was growing up in the UK in the 50s.

It was generally used to mean a storm in a teacup - or, indeed, much ado
about nothing...


Cheers!

John Blower/FeNiKs Business Communications
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