fuddle-duddle

See also: fuddle duddle

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

From fuddle, after fuddy-duddy, but development of meaning unclear. Perhaps from the interjection coined by Pierre Trudeau (see next etymology).

Verb

fuddle-duddle (third-person singular simple present fuddle-duddles, present participle fuddle-duddling, simple past and past participle fuddle-duddled)

1. To depart, to be off.

Etymology 2

There is an example of the phrase's use in the early 1940s, in "Mother Finds a Body", by Gypsy Rose Lee: "...when [he] asks me where I was on the night of so-and-so, I'll tell him to go fuddle his duddle".

However the expression fuddle-duddle is attributed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada, who according to some sources said it in parliament on 16 February 1971 and repeated it when pressed by television reporters about using profanity in respect to members of Parliament (Canadian House of Commons).

Interjection

fuddle-duddle

1. (euphemistic, originally Canada) Fuck! Fuck off!
   • 1971, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say “fuddle duddle” or something like that?

Further reading

• “fuddle-duddle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.