[PW] Re: Fuzzy wuzzy - a lovely, warm emotion

[Campbell, Barbara A]

I remember the phrase "warm fuzzies" and I think it came from the book
mentioned on this site.  It seemed to be a popular saying back in the
early 70's but I don't remember any derogatory connotations.

http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/fuzzyhomepage.html 



Barb
barbara-campbell at uiowa.edu  




-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
Russell Hamilton
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 6:35 AM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] Fuzzy wuzzy - a lovely, warm emotion

Hello W0mbats,

I used the descriptor fuzzy wuzzies today in a blog comment, and only
afterwards thought to check its political correct-ness. The standard
Australian dictionary - the Macquarie - says it's derogatory. The Oxford
just says it's slang. To me, hearing stories about 'fuzzy wuzzy angels'
when
I was at school, it was always an affectionate term for Melanesians. But
maybe it's suffered the same fate as golliwogs.

What I want to ask w0mbats is: does anyone remember (in the 70's?) when
fuzzy wuzzy became a popular way to describe a nice warm, emotional
state -
I can remember my little nieces asking "Give me a fuzzy wuzzy" which
meant a
big hug - I always assumed this came from Sesame Street or some program
they
watched. I can find people on the 'net using fuzzy wuzzy in this sense -
but
I don't have any dictionary that describes this usage.

BTW what is it called when people take a word like fuzzy and then add a
similar sounding word like wuzzy as a kind of intensifier?

Regards,
Russell Hamilton
Perth, Western Australia
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