Foobie

[Garson O'Toole]

The Furby is an interactive toy robot with fur that was launched in
1998. Several knockoff toys were created, e.g., furbish, ooglies,
dubby. Below is a link to a webpage that displays several of the
imitations including one called foobie. The name is visible on the
packaging box.

http://furbaholic.homestead.com/wannabes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furby

This instance of foobie may have influenced the use of foobie within
the model railroading community. I do not know when the furby-style
foobie was created.

The Doubletounged dictionary website has a catch for foobie dated Dec.
19, 2007 as "a term for fake boobies". The Urban Dictionary entry that
you noted is dated Jun 12, 2006.

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/foobie_1/

Garson

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 2:23 AM, Peter McGraw
<mrlanguageperson at verizon.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Peter McGraw <mrlanguageperson at VERIZON.NET>
> Subject:      Foobie
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm writing to the list with some trepidation,=A0because my previous posts =
> since I switched to my home e-mail have come through contaminated with lots=
>  of garbage.=A0 My apologies in advance if that happens again.=0A=A0=0AJust=
>  in case this comes through in intelligible form...=0A=A0=0AMy other vice b=
> esides language is model railroading.=A0 In the service of this vice, I sub=
> scribe to the e-mail list of the Rock Island Technical Society.=A0 There I =
> have come across a word I had never heard before and did not find in any of=
>  the likely dictionaries I consulted.=0A=A0=0AThe word is "foobie," and wha=
> t it means for those who used it on the RI list=A0is an inauthentic model.=
> =A0 A manufacturer produces a "foobie" by, e.g., making an accurate model o=
> f an engine used by the Pennsylvania Railroad and simply painting the same =
> model in Rock Island livery, even though the Rock Island prototype differed=
>  in significant ways from the version used by the PR.=A0 It's a common prac=
> tice (though many manufacturers are now making an effort to be truer to pro=
> totype), so there are a lot of foobies out there, but I had never heard the=
>  word before last week.=A0 Here are two quotes from messages to the RI list=
> :=0A=A0=0AThe first=A0came=A0in=A0a discussion of a "fantasy" model=A0of an=
>  engine=A0soon to be=A0released "just for fun" by a manufacturer (Athearn)=
> =A0in=A0the=A0livery of the RI and several other "fallen flags," even thoug=
> h that engine didn't exist yet when the respective prototype railroads eith=
> er shut down or were absorbed by other roads.=A0 Some modelers=A0like an oc=
> casional=A0"what if" model like this, but others=A0wouldn't have one on the=
> ir layout, including the author of this sarcastic comment:=A0=A0"Just put s=
> ome Intermountain RI cars behind it and you've got a complete foobie train.=
> "=A0 The thread went on to discuss the many flaws in the authenticity of th=
> e models produced by Intermountain.=0A=A0=0ALater on in the discussion of I=
> ntermountain, somebody wrote:=A0 "The PS2CD 4750's in the blue Did have the=
>  wrong car series....If you decide to change the number series with decals,=
>  they would be ok for the USRE built clones (I think they have the USRE sym=
> bol on the right side of the car), and all their reruns=A0I think still use=
>  this car number series from the grey ptd car series. That's a 'fixable foo=
> bie', I guess. But you'd think they would have got it by now."=0A=A0=0AI qu=
> eried the list=A0about where and when people had first encountered the word=
>  and where it might have come from, to which someone answered: "RR guys hav=
> e co-opted this term, but it is part of the urban dictionary....I first sta=
> rted seeing it on the Steam Era Freight Car list (STMFC) with a RR twist."=
> =A0 He said he=A0thought he had first encountered it in the model=A0railroa=
> d=A0context "a=A0few months ago."=A0 =0A=A0=0AThe entry in the Urban Dictio=
> nary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=3DFoobie) that's the m=
> ost plausible source of the model railroad use is: "Foobie, a compound word=
>  made up of fake, and boobies. To describe not only those wondrous silicon =
> orbs that seem to abound everywhere these days, but any variety of artifici=
> ally enhanced hooters. =0A"'Duuude...check out those boobies.' =0A"'Yeah...=
> total foobies.'"=0A=A0=0AI don't know anything about the Urban Dictionary, =
> so I don't know whether it's any kind of evidence for actual usage as oppos=
> ed to self-conscious nonce creations, but clearly the word is in actual use=
>  at least by a few model railroaders, among whom it has caught on because i=
> t fills a lexical gap that was a concept=A0in search=A0of=A0a word.=0A=A0=
> =0AHas anyone else encountered "foobie" somewhere?=0A=A0=0APeter McGraw
>
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