Antedating of "boffin"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wait! Wait! I have another!

Early radar researchers used to work out. So it comes from "buff 'uns."

Quite obvious, really. When you think of it that way.

JL


On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "boffin"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jun 12, 2014, at 11:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > If all conjectures are ungrounded in prior evidence, it seems fair to say
> > that the origin is "unknown," even if newly discovered evidence
> eventually
> > shows that one was in fact correct.
> >
> > For phonological reasons only, I've always connected "boffin" with
> > "puffin."
>
> Indeed. My unfounded speculation involved a blend of "boffo" ["of perhaps
> imitative origin", although we're not told of what] and "puffin".
>
> LH
>
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