Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
Howdy, girls! MBA Jane here. Working on my Beginner Level Farmgirl Grammar Badge. A new word every day for two weeks—whew! That’s a lot of reading in my big ol’ bright-red dictionary (but it totally matches my new red shoes, so whatevs).
So, darlings, I do declare, in my determination to dig through the dictionary, I am detecting it is my destiny to discover a deluge of delightful new words.
Evidently, it’s an exhilarating escape, as I had just eased my way through the “D” and “E” sections, and my excitement was as enormous as an elephant to extend my eloquence and enter on into “F.”
By the by … did y’all know that “phooey” actually starts with “ph” and not “f”?
Phooey means something is nonsense, you know. Which is pretty ironic, actually, since it makes no sense to me that it doesn’t begin with an F.
Anyhow.
“F” is the home of some of my absolute fave words. Like fave. And also farmgirl, fabulous, French fry, and FUN.
And guess what, fantastic friends? I found a new one.
You are SO going to want to say this with me …
Foofaraw!
I know. You can’t stop smiling, right?
Here’s the deets:
Foofaraw (foo-fah-raw) n.
1. A great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant.
2. An excessive amount of decoration or ornamentation, as on a piece of clothing, a building, etc.
Now, as I see it, these are two very different meanings.
The first is kind of a negative thing. Something like, “Officer, I might’ve been driving a little too fast, but there’s a sale at the mall today, so let’s not make a big foofaraw about it.”
Or, the last time I went on a date (before I met Mr. Wonderful, that is), I was happily shakin’ and shimmyin’ away on the dance floor when I realized my date’s dancing skills were all foofaraw and no rhythm.
Both bummers. (The “B” section was fun, too.)
The second definition of foofaraw, in my mind, does not match with the first. Excessive decoration? And that’s a problem because why …?
For example, let’s talk bangles. As in, an armful of shiny, shimmery, sparkly bracelets that jingle and jangle every time you move. Some may say that’s excessive, but I am not one of them—a foofaraw of bangles seems like a good thing to me.
And I don’t know why that definition is talking about buildings. Buildings don’t even wear bangles.
Do you see my point? And besides, doesn’t the word just make you want to shout it out loud?!
Foofaraw! It’s like a cheer. Rah! Rah! Foofaraw!
So, here’s my advice. Let’s make a fuss when a makin’ a fuss is fun, and let’s bangle up our arms and decorate our duds (and our buildings, because apparently that’s a thing) as we see fit.
I say fooey—oops, I mean phooey (ugh!) to those fastidious folks who fret so frightfully over fussiness.
Free your inner foofaraw, farmgirls!
