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FAQ

Jan 9, 2006

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
fussbudget
rident
rangy
frowzy
looby

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fussbudget

noun One who is fussy about unimportant things.

[From fuss + budget, from Middle English, from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge (bag), from Latin bulga (bag). Ultimately from Indo-European root bhelgh- (to swell) that is also the source of bulge, bellows, billow, belly, and bolster.]

NOTES: A synonym of this word is fusspot. Usually we dislike fusspots and fussbudgets but sometimes we wish there were fussbudgets among our elected leaders who cared enough to fuss about the budget of this country.

The word budget is a marvelous example of how the language goes around. French bougette (little bag) came to English, developed a new sense: budget (a financial estimate), and then went back to French in its new avatar. Most living languages are mongrels and that's what makes them richer. Why fuss about keeping them "pure"?

"[Nathan Lane] has shone in period pieces and as Bette Midler's fussbudget husband in Isn't She Great."
Ryan Gilbey; 'I Don't Know What Goes on in Their Heads Out in Hollywood'; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 15, 2005.

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