[PW] Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy

[Hadden, Robert L ERDC-TEC-VA]

 Dear Russell Hamilton:
	"Fuzzy wuzzy" is indeed derogatory. Among other uses, it was used by
the British soldiers to describe the warriors (especially their hairdo) of
the Mahdi's Army in Khartoum and the Sudan at the end of the 19th century.
Kipling wrote a poem about them, after they took Khartoum and killed General
"Chinee" Gordon, entitled, "Fuzzy Wuzzy."

So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man;
An' 'ere's to you, Fuzzy Wuzzy, with your 'ayrick 'ead of 'air -
You big black boundin' beggar - for you broke a British square!

	The British square, of course, was the last defense of infantry, and
British soldiery outfaced even Napoleon at Waterloo with their infantry
squares (officers, flags and baggage in the middle; four facings of rifles
pointing out; kill anything in your own front; depend upon the other sides to
maintain their regimental integrity).
	The term you are also thinking about is a "warm fuzzy," which was
used by Thomas Harris in "I'm OK, You're OK," and Ed Berne in "Games People
Play," which were a hit in the 1960s, and helped spark "Transactional
Analysis," the "Encounter Movement" and other seminars during the
pop-psychology times of the 1960s and 1970s. People don't get enough
compliments or humane strokes, i.e. "warm fuzzies", and instead get insults
and put downs, i.e., "cold pricklies". Indifference to, or ignoring people,
especially children, was murderous. So people gave out cold pricklies more
often than warm fuzzies, which were reserved for people we love. However,
after a while, we stop giving them out to even those we love, but give out
cold pricklies to them, too. Eventually, people, who are desperate for any
kind of stroke, will reach for cold pricklies, even by-passing open warm
fuzzies in order to do so.
	Relevance today? One insult (a cold prickly) from a disgruntled
patron, which is unwarranted, overcomes the good of several good compliments
(warm fuzzies) about your professionalism from people you respect. 
	People are more willing to receive insults than compliments. Try it-
give someone a compliment, and see if they can simply accept it and say,
"Thank you." Most of the time, people deflect the compliment in some form or
another. This is one discouraging reason why positive feedback is so
difficult and wining by intimidation is so successful.
	BTW, words change quickly today. "Fuzzy Wuzzy" is used to insult
blacks in England today. "Warm Fuzzies" are now "universal approximators"
used in fuzzy math, not to mention thingies of some sort made with knitting
yarns.

R. Lee Hadden
Geospatial Information Library (GIL)
Topographic Engineering Center
ATTN: CEERD-TO-I (Hadden)
7701 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, VA 22315-3864
(703) 428-9206
Robert.L.Hadden at erdc.usace.army.mil

See some of my writings, both online and on paper, at my author page at:
http://www.librarything.com/author/haddenrobertlee

-----Original Message-----

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 04:35:27 -0800
From: "Russell Hamilton" <hamiltonraja at gmail.com>
Subject: [PW]  Fuzzy wuzzy - a lovely, warm emotion
To: list at project-wombat.org
Message-ID:
	<93f430530612080435t5de5f427vd9b608ee7dd0ccca at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

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