Re-un-be-fuddled

As the summer vacation season winds down, we have had many different people of various ages coming, staying, and going both at home in Delmar and at the cottage at Schroon Lake.  A certain amount of befuddlement—confusion or perplexity—has ensued.  However, in the social interactions with friends and family, a certain amount of fuddling—drinking or tippling—has followed.

In a previous blog, I wrote about how affixes—prefixes or suffixes—can change the meaning of a root word.  Sometimes, we are so familiar with the root word and its prefix that we do not realize that the root word is really a word in itself.  (See “Be clement or make like a tree!” on 18 May 2013.)

Most of us know the word “befuddle” as defined above.  Few of us probably know the word “fuddle,” which the American Heritage College Dictionary defines as meaning, “to put into a state of confusion; befuddle,” but also meaning, “to make drunk” or “to drink; tipple.”  The Oxford English Dictionary, however, focuses on definitions of “fuddle” relating to drinking and intoxication.  Evidently, sober confusion, or fuddlement, is a somewhat modern meaning for the word.

The OED lists some fun phrases (fun frases or phun phrases) for “fuddle.”  When people go out drinking, they are “on the fuddle.”  Perhaps, imbibers at a Phish concert would be phuddling!  After while on the fuddle, if one is not careful, perhaps one will “fuddle one’s cap or nose,” meaning get drunk.

A few interesting tidbits I picked up while attempting to become unbefuddled include the word “fud,” which means “the backside or buttocks.”  Perhaps, the Gawain poet might have edited out a line such as, “After fuddling fairly he fell on his fud” from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Also, a “fudder” is “a tun of wine.”  In preparing for a festive occasion, one might purchase a fudder for fuddling.

I will end with some Public Service Announcements to clear up any befuddlement which might have occurred while reading this blog entry.  Please fuddle responsibly.  Do not drive while fuddled.  If you are on the fuddle, make sure to have a designated unfuddler.  Hopefully, none of this information will drive you to fuddle.  Now I am going to get up off my fud and go take a swim!  No, I think I will kayak.  No, wait, I think I will take a hike.  Oh, I am so befuddled!