fuddy-duddery
English
Etymology
fuddy-duddy + -ery
Noun
fuddy-duddery (uncountable)
- An action or view associated with a fuddy-duddy.
- The ban on splitting infinitives is fuddy-duddery, pure and simple.
- 1936, “The Man of the Month: Samuel Eliot Morison”, in The Atlantic, volume 158, page 384:
- Now nothing would have been easier than to let all this sag into a compendium of antiquarian fuddy-duddery. Instead, the dry bones stir into flesh-and-blood issues vital to our time.
- 1958, N. K. Easton, “Appreciation”, in The Accountant, volume 138, page 135:
- Thank you and congratulations for your invigorating articles on decimal coinage and the reform of our national accounts (January 18th issue) - two notable blows in the fight against fuddy-duddery!
- 1973, Fergus Macpherson, One Finger, page 175:
- "Do you believe in this outmoded piece of fuddy-duddery called monogamy, eh? Or would you agree that some men should have more than one wife?"