Wayne’s Word – futter

It’s a little nod to Wayne’s World, but instead of ‘party time, excellent’ (if you are aware of the cult nineties classic) I will be diving into one WORD each day. It could be something I learned, something bizarre that happened, a favourite word that I have rediscovered or just a thought that won’t leave me alone.

If you’re joining in on today’s word, feel free to use this tag to connect your post to the series: #WaynesWord

Today’s word is FUTTER

(Northern Irish slang, pronounced “footer”).

This is one of my all time favourite words, a very local, colloquial word that is a verb (a doing word, e.g. to futter) and it’s got that great, flexible Northern Irish charm to it.

It typically means to fidget with something, mess around or waste time doing something in an unproductive or clumsy way. It’s a bit like procrastinating but doing silly things that really don’t need to be done at this current moment of time.

Examples in use:

– “He’s been futtering about with that car all morning and still hasn’t fixed it.”

– “Quit futtering and get a move on!”

It is usually lighthearted or teasing — it’s not harsh. Someone who is “futtering” might be tinkering, daydreaming or just not getting on with it.

Let me know if you have ever heard of this word or maybe you have another word to describe futtering.

Wayne