whuffo
noun
Someone that is unwilling to make a skydive, but not unable. Whuffos are unable to view the world past their own cowardice and ignorance, thus the etymology being "Whuffo you jump out them perfecly good airplanes?"
It should be pointed out that the term whuffo does not include all non-skydivers. Although far more uncommon, there are those people who would be 100% willing to make a skydive, but either have a disqualifying medical condition or an insufficent income to afford the cost of a tandem. The key word with a whuffo is unwillingness and not inability.
Someone that is unwilling to make a skydive, but not unable. Whuffos are unable to view the world past their own cowardice and ignorance, thus the etymology being "Whuffo you jump out them perfecly good airplanes?"
It should be pointed out that the term whuffo does not include all non-skydivers. Although far more uncommon, there are those people who would be 100% willing to make a skydive, but either have a disqualifying medical condition or an insufficent income to afford the cost of a tandem. The key word with a whuffo is unwillingness and not inability.
Whuffo?
(Interrogative, colloq.) African-American English for "Why", or more emphatically, "What for?"
NOTE: The expression "the right word" is the English equivalent of the French "mot juste" -- "n. The perfectly appropriate word or phrase for the situation." -- Wiktionary.
NOTE: The expression "the right word" is the English equivalent of the French "mot juste" -- "n. The perfectly appropriate word or phrase for the situation." -- Wiktionary.
Example:
EXAMPLE:
' "I guess that isn't the right word," she said. She was used to apologizing for her use of language. She had been encouraged to do a lot of that in school. Most white people in Midland City were insecure when they spoke, so they kept their sentences short and their words simple, in order to keep embarrassing mistakes to a minimum. Dwayne certainly did that. Patty certainly did that.
' This was because their English teachers would wince and cover their ears and give them flunking grades and so on whenever they failed to speak like English aristocrats before the First World War. Also: they were told that they were unworthy to speak or write their language if they couldn't love or understand incomprehensible novels and plays about people long ago and far away, such as "Ivanhoe".
' The black people would not put up with this. They went on talking English every which way. They refused to read books they couldn't understand -- on the grounds they couldn't understand them. They would ask such impudent questions as, "Whuffo I want to read no "Tale of Two Cities"? Whuffo?
-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel "Breakfast of Champions" -- Chapter 15 (page 138).
EXAMPLE:
' "I guess that isn't the right word," she said. She was used to apologizing for her use of language. She had been encouraged to do a lot of that in school. Most white people in Midland City were insecure when they spoke, so they kept their sentences short and their words simple, in order to keep embarrassing mistakes to a minimum. Dwayne certainly did that. Patty certainly did that.
' This was because their English teachers would wince and cover their ears and give them flunking grades and so on whenever they failed to speak like English aristocrats before the First World War. Also: they were told that they were unworthy to speak or write their language if they couldn't love or understand incomprehensible novels and plays about people long ago and far away, such as "Ivanhoe".
' The black people would not put up with this. They went on talking English every which way. They refused to read books they couldn't understand -- on the grounds they couldn't understand them. They would ask such impudent questions as, "Whuffo I want to read no "Tale of Two Cities"? Whuffo?
-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel "Breakfast of Champions" -- Chapter 15 (page 138).
whuffo
Example:
"Whuffo he stand in dat intasection wit a unifoam on wavin' to the cars?"
"Whuffo he scrawl dat dere nasty stuff on de wall by de playground?"
"Whuffo she stand on dat street corna all lookin' tricked up like dat?"
"Whuffo he stand in dat intasection wit a unifoam on wavin' to the cars?"
"Whuffo he scrawl dat dere nasty stuff on de wall by de playground?"
"Whuffo she stand on dat street corna all lookin' tricked up like dat?"