In the last couple weeks, I’ve heard several people tell me they were “futzing around” with assorted projects. Until then, I truly don’t believe I’d ever heard the word futz in any form.
Being a naturally curious person, I wondered about the word’s origin, and its likely derivation—in other words, its etymology. Etymology was a favorite subject of mine in college, and my former students will attest to how much I’ve always enjoyed digging into a word’s roots.
My first line of research is always my trusty Merriam-Webster’s, which did, indeed, have the definition I expected. No surprise, it means to pass time in idleness, to fool around idly, and to fiddle with inconsequentially. But that didn’t quite satisfy my need to know.
Google, as I’ve mentioned before, is my new best friend (but don’t tell my dictionary I said so). I Googled futz, and discovered an obscure 1969 movie by that very title in which Cyrus Futz, disenfranchised with his prior relationships with women, showers his love and attention on a pig, to the point of marrying her. (Hey, I didn’t write it, I’m just reporting my findings.)
I searched for the origination of the word, and discovered that it apparently came into popular use between 1930 and 1935 as a euphemism for that “other” F-word. Wouldn’t you know? Eighty some odd years later, and it’s still going strong!
So I’m wondering if the little old lady, some years beyond 80 herself, who told me she was just futzing around last week was using it as a euphemism?
Curious or not, I shall refrain from asking!