Product Code Database
" Fuddy-duddy" (or " fuddy duddy" or " fuddy-dud")Tom Dalzell The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English is a term for a person who is fussy while old-fashioned, traditionalist, conformist or conservative, sometimes almost to the point of eccentricity or . It is a slang term, mildly derogatory but sometimes affectionate too and can be used to describe someone with a zealous focus on order.Karen O'Connor Fuddy-duddy Walkin' with God Ain't for Wimps: Spirit-Lifting Stories for the Young at Heart page 67-68
Douglas Harper of the Online Etymology Dictionary reports it from "1871, American English, of uncertain origin." Accessed 1 December 2016. However, Dictionary.com Unabridged compares it to a Northern English term: "1900-05; of obscure origin; compare dial. (Cumberland) duddy-fuddiel a ragged fellow."
Gary Martin states: "William Dickinson's A glossary of words and phrases pertaining to the dialect of Cumberland, 1899, has:
"Duddy fuddiel, a ragged fellow""and "in 1833, the Scots poet James Ballantyne wrote The Wee Raggit Laddie:
Wee stuffy, stumpy, dumpie laddie,
Thou urchin elfin, bare an' duddy,
Thy plumpit kite an' cheek sae ruddy,
Are fairly baggit,
Although the breekums on thy fuddy,
Are e'en right raggit."
Ambrose Bierce's story Who Drives Oxen Should Himself be Sane, published in 1918, starts out with a use of the word and discussion of it as a "unique adjuration".Ambrose Bierce Can such things be? Publisher Boni & Liveright, 1918 Original from the University of California, Digitized 6 November 2008 The term is also used in the title of juvenile fiction including Kay Hoflander's The Chautauqua Kids and the Fuddy Duddy Daddy: A Tale of Pancakes & Baseball, The Chautauqua Kids and the Fuddy Duddy Daddy: A Tale of Pancakes & Baseball, Kay Hoflander – Juvenile Fiction – 2007–64 pages and the Uncle Fuddy-Duddy series by Roy Windham and Polly Rushton. Uncle Fuddy-Duddy Rabbit Tales, Roy Windham, Polly Rushton – Juvenile Fiction – 2004–24 pages Uncle Fuddy-Duddy Learns to Fly!, Roy Windham, Polly Rushton – Juvenile Fiction – 2005–24 pages
In its shortened form, "" or "gun fudd" is often used as a disparaging term to refer to a gun owner who only supports gun ownership for sport and hunting purposes, and is opposed to the ownership of modern assault-style firearms and accessories, whether for offensive or defensive purposes. This use originates from the cartoon character Elmer Fudd, in reference to his old-fashioned hunting outfit and double-barrel shotgun, gullibility, shortness of both stature and temper, and general incompetence in hunting his archenemy, Bugs Bunny.
Female figures have been labelled with terms of a similar meaning, including " school marm" or " marm", which could be used for an older female disciplinarian such as a stereotypical type of strict teacher.
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