Reasons why you should start using the word 'schbuufy' (pronounced 'sherboofy')

My last post was about hair.  You're probably wanting something different now.

Okay, so I'll give you something different.  Here's a picture of a duck-billed platypus.



I found that picture on Google and was just about to type, 'What a strange looking creature!  Is it a particularly furry one?' and then I realised the caption said, 'Stuffed toy duck-billed platypus'.  No wonder.  Now, I will find a picture of a real one, just in case, in the light of the above picture, you take against the poor creatures and become a duck-billed platypusist.







What the hell is this?  SURELY there's not a cartoon starring a duck-billed platypus?!  Someone tell me it isn't true.  And why does it have a lacrosse racquet for a tail?  And why is it bright blue?  SO many questions!


Right, still looking for a real DBP.  I got distracted a bit there.  Give me a minute.












'Oh, darling!  New slippers for my birthday!  Thank you SO much!'


Right, I've had enough now.  If you want a picture of a real, adult duck-billed platypus, you will have to go and find one yourself.  ('Shall we go out to the pub, dear?' 'No, not right now, honeybun.  I'm just browsing the Internet for pictures of duck-billed-platypi.'  'You're what?'  'I said, I'm just ....'  'No, I heard what you said.  And if things are getting that bad, I'm going to the bloody pub on my own.')

Now, where was I?  Oh, yes.  I was going to talk to you again about hair.

And all I wanted to say was, that the new word for when someone has wild hair, like this ..........



........ is 'schbuufy'. (Pronunciation: sherboofee.)

Schbuufy is a new word, just come into circulation, courtesy of my A level English Language students.  We were doing a lesson on adjectives, and I was claiming recklessly that any time we wanted to, we could make up new adjectives for things, and if we could get them to catch on, they would.  So I set them the challenge of deciding on a new word to mean 'wild' and they came up with 'schbuufy'.

We argued for a while about the spelling: a) because I thought the double 'u' a bit unnecessary and b) because they just love to argue.

They won.

Schbuufy can be used to describe anything wild.  Here are some examples of usage.

1. We went to this schbuufy party on Friday and, when the police had gone, and we'd got our mate Jamie off the roof, and taken the roof tiles out of his pockets, and told him not to shout at passers-by that he was a ninja, we all went home to research hangover cures.

2. I've had a schbuufy weekend, with no time to myself, because I've had so much work to do.  I didn't even have time to brush my hair, which is also now mega-schbuufy, and although that's given me the chance to use a prefix in a clever way and create a new compound adjective, it still means I was very tired on Monday.

3. I told my dad I was pregnant and he went absolutely schbuufy on me, yelling, 'Look!  At 53, I think it's about time you stopped!  How are you going to have time to spend with the octuplets you had last year?'

Anyway, I'd be grateful if you'd start using the word 'schbuufy' too.  I have told the students that one day if we all work hard enough to spread it, it could get into the Oxford English Dictionary.

And, yes, you might be thinking, 'And the same day, the Pope's going to become a Buddhist'.  But you also might be thinking, 'She has mighty schbuufy ideas, that madwoman!', and if you did, you have already joined in the fun.  Take a merit, and I'll let you off that lunchtime detention.



Comments

  1. So, how is it pronounced? Like "vacuum"? (without the v and c and m, obviously). That would be almost like "schboofy" then? Or is my Scottish accent leading me astray? Do we want a hint of the "oo-um"? We need to know before we can start using it.

    Actually, my personality and lifestyle, not to say my garden, are so unwild that it's going to take me a while to find the right opportunity to slip it into the conversation.

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  2. Have added the pronunciation, for when life peps up a bit!

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    1. Goodness me, that's very confusing for a Scot (who pronounces her "r"s as any self-respecting Scot will do). "Sherrrrrboofee" is quite a different word. I seem to remember from my uni phonetics classes (to which I did not pay enough attention) that there is an upside down and back to front "e" which denotes the sound of the "e" in, for example, "the". I think you need one of those in your word. I thought I remembered what this symbol was called but then I Googled the name I remembered and I was wrong. This word in my head means something very rude indeed. I hope that the police don't comb my computer for criminal activity and find that I've looked this up. I shall blame you.

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    2. And no, no, I don't want life to pep up, thanks. Can't cope with wildness, though I have been looking up how to bind a quilt (the one I've made the patchwork bit of but haven't quilted yet). Does this count as kicking over the traces?

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    3. This made me laugh! Do you mean the 'schwa'? I hate to try to imagine what it is you found instead! And as for the binding of quilts, I didn't think you were that kind of person, Isabelle. I am shocked at your schbuufyness.

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    4. I do mean the "schwa", yes. Well done. Clearly you did your English degree more recently than I did; or perhaps you were just paying more attention. Now I can't remember the rude word and I'm not going to go combing in my archives to find it, thus compounding evidence of my shady... or maybe schbuufy... private life.

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    5. I only remember because I have to teach it every year when we do the International Phonetic Alphabet!

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  3. Anonymous9/10/13 17:39

    What an absolutely SCHBUUFY idea--I wish I could help, but I can't think of a sentence to use it in!

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  4. Thanks for increasing my vocabulary. I'm now including schboofy!

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    Replies
    1. Spread it across the globe for me, Stephen!

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  5. Good word.
    My own hair is schbuufy far more often than I'd like. I would probably pronounce it schboofy, rhyming with poufy. Is pronunciation important here?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it goes 'sherboofee'. You've got it right. Keep your hair that way - then you have a good excuse for using the new word!

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  6. Schbuufy The Vampire Slayer? Does that work?

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    1. Brilliant! Now 'schbuufy' is a proper noun!

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  7. I'm just schbuffy about Harry, and Harry's schbuffy about me...la la la

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    Replies
    1. Aha, I spot a new game! 'Schbuffy Thing! [cue distorted guitar] You make my heart sing! You make everything schbuffy!...'

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  8. My spelling is bound to fall to pieces with the word - might end up a shaboofy, instead - but I guess alternative spellings are allowed even in the best of circles...

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    1. Well, Shakespeare spelled his name about 6 different ways, so they say, and if it's good enough for the Bard, it's okay with me.

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  9. In that pic the woman looks like she is underwater but still her hair looks more groomed than mine :(

    Anna May x

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    Replies
    1. I always knew you were a bit schbuufy.

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  10. Schbuufy to you. I like it. I enjoy inventing words.

    Love,
    Janie

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    Replies
    1. It's one of life's greatest pleasures, in my opinion, although cake will always come first in my heart.

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  11. So I'm thinking; 'Schbuufy salmon? It was absolutely FURIOUS...' (The old ones are the best).

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    Replies
    1. They must be, because that made me giggle!

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  12. I know where you'll find this word... Where the Schbuufy Things Are.

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  13. How schbuufyly / schbuufily/ schbuufully (?) serendipitous! I was leafing through the dictionary earlier today trying to decide on my latest Word of The Week but nothing inspired me - until I gave up and found this lovely word on your blog. Consider it adopted.

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    1. I am so pleased to have been of service. Schbuufyly pleased, in fact.

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    2. It is now official:

      http://linda-daunter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/word-of-week-20.html

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  14. I'm very fond of making up words and I think schbuufy has potential. I might put it on our Wow Word Wall in Year 4 and see if anyone uses it in their Extended Writing. Great post :) :)

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    Replies
    1. Please, please, do! And send me a photo if they use it so I can show the sixth formers.

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