Sunday, October 20, 2024

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Fuzzy Wuzzy was an ursid
With a lack of fuzz accursèd,
Which implies he wasn’t very,
If you think about it, hairy.

3 comments:

Bruce Charlton said...

Good stuff!

William Wright (WW) said...

Not sure what brought Fuzzy Wuzzy to your mind, but I learned that Fuzzy Wuzzy described a group of East African rebel fighters known as the Hadendoa, which means "Clan of Lions".

They got the name from the British as a term to describe the hairstyle the Hadendoa wore (and also I guess as respect for their bravery) . The British fought the Hadendoa in Sudan, and that country's name, interestingly enough, means "Land of the Blacks". As a play on words, this is very similar to the meaning of Kemet, the original Egypt name: "Black Land".

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about the Fuzzy Wuzzies, and there are suggestions (though no clear origination story) that the Fuzzy Wuzzy nursery rhyme ties to these African Fuzzy Wuzzies

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

I knew the Kipling poem but nothing to speak of about the history behind it. I just read the bit in Doug’s book about the “Council of Lions” without knowing, until I read your comment, that it was a link to Fuzzy Wuzzy.

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