Chuffed

[Victor Steinbok]

 From a live webcast of the England-Slovenia, I was attracted by one
comment:

> Joe Cole gets a roar as he comes on but it is Rooney who is making
> way. He doesn't look chuffed.

Checking OED, there are two verbs "chuff", neither appropriate, but also
an entry for "chuffed":

> slang (orig. Mil.).
>
> a. Pleased, satisfied. b. Displeased, disgruntled.
> a. 1957 P. WILDEBLOOD Main Chance ix. 163 Aren't you pleased? There's
> not many kids of your age what owns a factory. You ought to be dead
> chuffed about it. 1960 A. WAUGH Foxglove Saga xii. 218 He was chuffed
> at this new monumental skive he had discovered. 1961 S. PRICE Just for
> Record iv. 29 My beard is black, all-black. That makes me pretty
> chuffed. 1967 Crescendo May 6 (Advt.), I cannot express too much just
> how ‘chuffed’ I am with the drums.
> b. 1960 D. STOREY This Sporting Life I. ii. 59, I felt pretty chuffed
> with myself. 1964 C. DALE Other People viii. 158 Don't let on they're
> after you, see, or she'll be dead chuffed, see? She don' like the law.

The trouble is, of course, that it's impossible to tell from the context
whether (a) or (b) is implied by the commentator, or even if the meaning
matches one of these at all. To add to the confusion,

> chuff, a.1
> Obs. exc. dial.
>
> 1. Swollen or puffed out with fat; chubby.
> 1609 HOLLAND Amm. Marcell. XXXI. ii. 399 By reason of their fat
> chuffe-necks they are monstrously deformed. 1688 R. HOLME Armoury II.
> 427/1 Chuffe, or puff Cheeks, or blob Cheeks [are] great and swelling
> out. 1821 CLARE Vill. Minstr. II. 27 His chuff cheeks dimpling in a
> fondling smile. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. (E.D.S.) 1887 Kentish Gloss.
> (E.D.S.) Chuff, fat, chubby.
>
> 2. Pleased, satisfied, happy. dial.
> c1860 in Northampton Dial., I saw the old man and he looked as chuff
> as ever, although he is between 80 and 90. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss.
> (E.D.S.) Chuff, expressive of a state of hilarious satisfaction,
> whether outwardly exhibited or not..‘As chuff as a cheese’, ‘As chuff
> as an apple’. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Chuff, pleased,
> delighted, proud, conceited. ‘The children's quite chuff to come.’
> 1888 Sheffield Gloss. (E.D.S.) Chuff, proud, pleased. ‘Thar rare an'
> chuff o' that dog o' thoine.’

and,

> chuff, a.2
> Obs. exc. dial.
>
> Surly, churlish; gruff, stern, morose.
> 1832 G. DOWNES Lett. Cont. Countries I. 289 Like a British
> sea-captain, rough, chuff, and headstrong,{em}but withal fair and
> honourable. a1859 L. HUNT Robin Hood Poet. Wks. (1860) 149 Pure
> venison and good ale or wine, Except when luck was chuff. 1864 E.
> CAPERN Devon Provinc., Chuff, churlish, surly. 1880 W. Cornwall
> Gloss., Chuff, sullen, sulky. 1887 Kentish Dial., Choff, stern,
> morose. 1888 ELWORTHY W. Somerset Wordbk., Chuff, surly in manner,
> boorish, brusque, stiff and unbending.

So Rooney might have been "gruntled" or disgruntled and the commentator
is negating the opposite, whichever it is.

A bit further in the "live" commentary it does become more clear:

> No tantrum from Rooney though and he was limping earlier. Cole will
> play off Defoe.

So the meaning was that Rooney did not look annoyed. Glad it was cleared
up ;-)

VS-)

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