Puttering: a definition and example
- Thread starter Ray-CA
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egnald
Member
Aint that the truth! - Dave
GaryMGg
Member
My FIL used to say "piddling":
What'cha building John?
Nothing; just piddling.
What'cha building John?
Nothing; just piddling.
mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
A lifestyle to aspire to in retirement!
Woodchipper
Member
A great definition! My late friend from Michigan referred to it as "putzing." Maybe its origin was German or Dutch?
Smokey S
Member
Oh how very true! Just saying………Smokey
egnald
Member
I find it interesting in how language evolves throughout time and regions.
I've read that the original term that many of these get attributed to is "pottering" which the Oxford Dictionary indicates came from the 17th century verb "pote" which means to kick or paw at something repeatedly. From there it came to mean to occupy yourself in a pleasant but ineffective activity or to move about aimlessly. The "putter" variant shows up in literature in the beginning of the 19th century.
Putzing shows up in the mid 20th century and is believed to be a variant of the Yiddish term "futz" which means essentially the same thing.
Piddling comes from "piddle" which has changed in meaning throughout the years. In the 1600's it meant to pick at your food while in the late 1700's it took on quite a different (biological) meaning. As an adjective, "piddling" is usually in reference to something relatively small, usually monetary, like "a piddling 2-cents".
Dave
PS I am usually doing these puttering, piddling, activities in my shop on some kind of thingummy, thingamajig, or thingamabob.
I've read that the original term that many of these get attributed to is "pottering" which the Oxford Dictionary indicates came from the 17th century verb "pote" which means to kick or paw at something repeatedly. From there it came to mean to occupy yourself in a pleasant but ineffective activity or to move about aimlessly. The "putter" variant shows up in literature in the beginning of the 19th century.
Putzing shows up in the mid 20th century and is believed to be a variant of the Yiddish term "futz" which means essentially the same thing.
Piddling comes from "piddle" which has changed in meaning throughout the years. In the 1600's it meant to pick at your food while in the late 1700's it took on quite a different (biological) meaning. As an adjective, "piddling" is usually in reference to something relatively small, usually monetary, like "a piddling 2-cents".
Dave
PS I am usually doing these puttering, piddling, activities in my shop on some kind of thingummy, thingamajig, or thingamabob.
Ray-CA
Member
And from there came fishing and "surfing the web."
Mike
Member
I do a lot of this, whatever it's called. Both my parents said "piddling around". I say that and "messing around". Whatever it is called, I do it all the time and most of the time enjoy it.
Mike
Mike
egnald
Member
You reminded me of one of the things I always had to remind my kids of.
Its called "Fishing", there is a reason it's not called "Catching".
- Dave
PS It kind of goes along with another one...
We can go "Hunting" or we can go "Shooting", they are two different things, which one do you really want to do?