Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikipedia: Fuddy-duddy
A fuddy-duddy (or fuddy duddy or fuddy-dud) is a person who is fussy while old-fashioned, traditionalist, conformist, or conservative, sometimes almost to the point of eccentricity or geekiness. It is a slang term, mildly derogatory but sometimes affectionate too and can be used to describe someone with a zealous focus on order.
Refer to Gladwin’s Men out of Asia (1947) for “Dr. Phuddy Duddy,” modeled after a prominent anthropologist who poo-poos his theories.
Etymology
“Fuddy-duddy” is considered a word based on duplication and may have originated as a fused phrase made to form a rhyming jingle. Duddy is similar to Daddy and may have caught on from children’s rhyming.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
fuddy-duddy, n.:
Etymology: Origin unknown.
An old-fashioned person; an ineffectual old fogy. Also attributive or as adj.
[1899 E. W. Prevost Dickinson’s Gloss. Words & Phrases Cumberland (new ed.) 106/2 Duddy fuddiel, a ragged fellow.]
1904 in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 236/2.
1907 Dial. Notes 3 244 Fuddy-duddy, n. and adj.
1938 D. Moffat Mott Family in France xvii. 191 Mr. Mott wandered along the Promenade..looking at the damned old fuddy-duddies who cluttered it up.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
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•“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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