–fu suffix indicating mastery or expertise. Also foo. Editorial Note: Film critic Joe Bob Briggs, who tends to sprinkle the suffix throughout his reviews, is often credited with popularizing it. Etymological Note: Probably from kung fu, a Chinese martial art, and probably not related to the foobar, fubar, or the foo often used by programmers. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...