Fufflement – Wrap up well in Winter
Hello,
It has been a mild winter here, so far. My walk this morning, however, leaned towards the chilly side. I shall have to deploy my Very Long Scarf soon. Inspired partly by Tom Baker’s Dr. Who scarf, I crocheted one in autumn shades and made it long enough to require looping around my neck several times. It’s made of merino wool and is very warm.
It reminded me of a dialect word I chanced upon one day on Twitter – fufflement. You probably won’t find it in your English dictionary, but it’s a good old word and seemed suitable for a day when you might want to wrap up in layers of winter clothing.
Fufflement is an old Yorkshire dialect word meaning “wearing too many layers of clothing”. Thanks to many years watching (and re-watching) episodes of “Friends” it always makes me think of the one when Joey dresses up in all of Chandler’s clothes to annoy him. He certainly wouldn’t have been cold today in that strange outfit. It can get pretty cold in the Yorkshire Dales during the winter, so I’m not surprised that’s where we get fufflement. The English spoken in Yorkshire often retains older words, I found that several times while researching Viking words. The next time I wind my Very Long Scarf around my neck, I shall know I am fuffling myself (or should that be fufflementing myself?), and I’ll think of the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.
I’ve previously investigated the history of kerfuffle, you can have a read of that here. Along the way to that one I discovered that the fuffle part dates back to the 1500s and was a Scottish verb meaning to disorder or dishevel. That ties in pretty well with Joey’s odd pile of clothes and my crazy scarf. It can get cold in Scotland too, although they might deploy a kilt for warmth, rather than my scarf looping approach.
Happy New Year and until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
p.s. my Christmas book contest finished on the 31st of December. The winner was Roisin Tracey and her prize is on its way to her.
