Fashionable Words: Kerfuffle

[Sometimes words die out of fashion. But sometimes those words are good words, words with a certain appeal that can't be denied forever. Those words should be brought back into fashion, used frequently and used often. These are those words.]

Word:
Kerfuffle


Definition:   noun
A commotion, disturbance, or fuss.


Origin:
Depends on which spelling you like with your kerfuffle.

According to the OED, kerfuffle was born in 1946 in That Summer, and other stories, a book by New Zealand's own Frank Sargeson. Sargeson only gets credit for the standard spelling in use today though, so tough shakes, Frank.

The original Scottish curfuffle (also known as gefuffle, because Scots love words that sound like you're four sheets to the wind) came from poet George Bruce in 1813, specifically from this jaunty little line:

An' Jeanie's kirtle, aye sae neat, Gat there a sad carfuffle.

It's even more fun when you try to say it like Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting!

Sir David Lyndsay looking to start trouble.

Kerfuffle/curfuffle both have fuffle at their roots--meaning 'to throw into disorder, to jerk about'--which takes our etymology train back to 1536, when Scottish poet and diplomat Sir David Lyndsay first used the fuffle in his work Answer to Kingis Flyting.
[Not for nothing side story: Lyndsay rose through the ranks of Scottish court under James V (best known as Mary, Queen of Scots' dad). Yet for a man who was Scotland's point man on many international diplomatic events, there's no knowledge of Lyndsay's youth, education, upbringing, or even when he officially died. Is Lyndsay still alive today? Sure, why the hell not. Unsubstantiated, obscure, historical rumors--only on The Toolbox!]



The prefix cur- most likely comes from the Gaelic car (twist or turn about). Meanwhile, the prefix ker- is possibly influenced by cur-, so says the OED, but is really just an onomatopoeic formation to create the sound of something. (Think: "Kersplash!") For reasons unknown, the OED says ker- is generally considered vulgar, but doesn't explain.

There you go--I just offended you, and you didn't even realize it.


Most obscure UrbanDictionary.com definitions of kerfuffle:

4.  Basically used by Lou Reed from Little Britain. It means a state, a problem or a hassle.

8.  A cough that makes you fart.

10.  A very very rare sighting of a beaver-like animal with a mullet...it was seen in the backwoods of southern Kentucky...it had very large buck teeth and the people were not sure if it was a hillbilly that had moved into the wild or a very large beaver with a mullet.


Used in a sentence:
1.  Martha's new fruit punch recipe caused quite a kerfuffle at the church social once everyone found out it was made with seven kinds of liquor.


Word Awesomeness Scale (1 to 5):
Four.

Sounds less threatening than it actually is.