Fun & Fancy Words:
Flapdoodle!
This Week’s Fun & Fancy Word Is:
Let’s put aside all that nonsensical flapdoodle, and get down to reality. The fact of the matter is, flapdoodle is foolish, insincere talk, or prattle. Often meant to deceive or overwhelm someone with nonsense.[1]
Etymology:
Origin Of The Word Flapdoodle
The first known example of this word is from a book by Captain Frederick Marryat. It appears in Peter Simple, which was serialized in the Metropolitan Magazine in 1832–33:
‘It’s my opinion, Peter, that the gentleman has eaten no small quantity of flapdoodle in his lifetime.’ ‘What’s that, O’Brien?’ replied I. ‘Why, Peter,’ rejoined he, ‘it’s the stuff they feed fools on.’[2]
It’s likely an arbitrary combination of elements meant to sound ridiculous. Perhaps allusions to flap “a blow, or stroke” and doodle “a fool, simpleton.”[3]
Find A Caboodle
Of Fun & Fancy Words Here.
Endnotes:
[2] Oxford English Dictionary.
Marryat, Frederick. Peter Simple. London: Nick Hodson, 1834.
[3] etymonline
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