07.12.08

Random Words About Random Words, Part I

Posted in assorted weird crap, unknown origins at 10:52 am by Bill Brohaugh

Here’s something of a loony thought: Wandering through an old book of word observations, I spotted this quote:

Fud. According to the Oxford English dictionary, this is the proper term for a rabbits [sic] anus [sick]. This gives added zest to the word befuddle.

I tend to wonder how any term for a rabbit’s anus might be considered “proper” (perhaps one extends one’s pinky when using the term in proper social situations—”I would venture that said reference was, indubitably, a fud, my queen”), and that perhaps the author meant “the technical term,” but that’s beside the point.

I looked up fud over at the OED, and found no references to anuses, leporine or otherwise, though the word does refer to the human behind, and to an animal’s scut—that is, the kind of tail that rabbits and deer have, but that’s beside the point.

I also checked befuddle to see if that word would deserve any zest by association with fud. No, it turns out, since befuddle is an intensified version of fuddle, meaning “to drink alcohol, to binge” or “to get drunk.” OK, maybe fud has some punnish resonance with the slang “on your ass” for “drunk,” but other than that, it’s beside the point.

Then what the hell is the point, Mr. Brohaugh?, you’re likely fuming by now. Naught but my being amused that one of the biggest pains in ass for Bugs Bunny is, of course . . . Elmer Fudd.

The point, therefore, is not a loony thought, but a Looney Tunes thought.

And just for the hell of it:

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