"Foob" Watch

[Benjamin Zimmer]

There was some discussion here back in January about fanciful slang
coinages that appeared in the comic strip "For Better Or For Worse"
("gig", roadside", etc.):
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0501d&L=ads-l&D=0#54

The "Comics Curmudgeon" site considers another FBoFW coinage: "foob" (a
blend of "fool" and "boob"): <http://joshreads.com/index.php?p=262>.

"Foob" appeared in FBoFW on Mar. 22 and Mar. 23, but it's apparently been
used several times in past strips (by tweener April and her friends).
Unlike "gig" and "roadside", "foob" seems like it could actually catch on.
 One contributor to the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics.strips last June
said that he had used "foob" in the past "merely as a more insulting,
patronizing form of 'feeb'".  It also suggests "foobar", of course.

Here are links to the two recent strips (note also the pluralization of
"doofus" as "doofi" in the Mar. 23 strip):

http://www.comics.com/comics/forbetter/archive/forbetter-20050322.html
http://www.comics.com/comics/forbetter/archive/forbetter-20050323.html


--Ben Zimmer