July 21, 2009

Goofballsiness.

Word suggested, just now, by me, upon reading the draft of an email that contained the world "goofballery." Google turns up nothing on a search for "goofballsiness," whereas there are close to 3,000 hits on "goofballery." But, clearly, "goofballsiness" is the better word. Please, everyone. Start using the useful word "goofballsiness." And remember: Althouse coined it.

30 comments:

Fred4Pres said...

You threw me by going with goofballery and then switching to goofballsiness.

I am still getting over having someone explaining to me this morning what mung means. Don't ask.

rhhardin said...

It doesn't meant the same thing.

``Ballsiness'' would be the implied root, and that's another thing entirely from the goofball branch.

Fred4Pres said...

rhhardin, you are correct, although the idea of mixing goof with ballsiness is not a bad one. There are times that word would work.

Bissage said...

Goofballsiness.

Say it?

Hell, I intend to practice it!!!

(Wish me luck.)

* girds loins *

Anonymous said...

Why draw comparisons between the two words? They have different meanings, just as foolery and foolishness do.

ricpic said...

Goofballsiness I would translate as inept thuggery: the hallmark of our present administration.

Chip Ahoy said...

Seems to me goofballsiness is the result of goofballery, or goofballing, as it were. The first a noun, the second a verb. Great strides are made with good goofballery, say, rocketry for example, resulting is some astounding goofballsiness, like extra solar system probes that provided marvelous photos of outer planets and their moons on the way out -- with wonderful goofball messages attached to wildly imagined extraterrestrials that presumably might/could/would encounter and decode them.

Pop-up cards are pure goofballsiness. And if they're not, then I'm stopping that goofballery immediately.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A compulsive practical joker?

Scrutineer said...

Goofballsiness = courage to commit goofballery? (like Sacha Baron Cohen or Tom Green)

Elliott A said...

Maybe this is why the French have an entire government department to protect their beloved language from either foreign interlopers or inventive law professors.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Goofballsiness = courage to say we need another "stimulus"? (like Obama, or Pelosi)

Oh wait, maybe not Pelosi.

traditionalguy said...

Goofballsiness is raw courage to make fools out of other people as a bonding and friendship tool with those people. Needless to say, it sometimes doesn't work as planned, but then you do know more about that relationship. A better way to accomplish this goal is to play a round of golf with them. We call that Golfballsiness. It works better because the golf course makes a fool out of them for you. You can also sneak in an exploding golf ball or a golf ball that flies strangely for a perfect mixture of Goofballsiness and Golfballsiness.

Wince said...

I agree with those who see the "balls-eee-ness" as the root in goofballsiness, typically very different from the attributes of being a goofball.

Wouldn't goofball-ish-ness be more apt?

Balfegor said...

Goofballsiness is raw courage to make fools out of other people as a bonding and friendship tool with those people.

I would have thought "goofballsiness" to be the quality of making a fool of oneself for public amusement, and "goofballery" would be the actions one might perform in the course of making a fool of oneself . . .

tim maguire said...

They bring different images to mind. "goofballsiness" is more serious, aggresive because of the root word (ballsiness, as noted previously by rhardin).

goofballery more fun loving. It helps that whenever I think "goofballery," my mind automatically does that word association thing and responds "Chuck Woolery."

Balfegor said...

Goofballery is probably derived from tomfoolery by analogy . . .

Quasimodo said...

I've always preferred "goofballishness"

"goofballery" seems to denote the acts one performs when being a goofball.

"goofballiness" seems to denote a certain arrogance employed when really fouling things up.

"Goofballishness" denotes an aspect of the character of an habitual goofball

Penny said...

"Goofballsiness = courage to commit goofballery? (like Sacha Baron Cohen or Tom Green)"

And my personal favorite, Bissage!

Bissage said...

Goofballereeeeee . . .

Goofballeraaaaaah . . .

Goofballereeeeee . . .

Goofballer ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

Goofballereeeeee . . .

Goofballerahhhhh . . .

My knapsack on my back.

Bissage said...

And that one goes out to . . . PENNY!!!1!!!!!!

Fred4Pres said...

Here is an example of it, Cajun On Star.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Goofbullishess = made flesh by Mad’s Money and all around Althouse favorite Jim Cramer ;)

Joseph said...

Goofballsiness sounds like it means something else--a ballsy goofball. Goofballery is just a plain old fashioned goofball.

traditionalguy said...

I stand by my definition. Living around master practitioners of goofballsiness confirms to me that it is not acting as a clown ones self, but it is making of a victim to appear as a clown followed by the victim's good natured acceptance of having been targeted by such a clever trick. It is always the opposite of being ignored.

Fred4Pres said...

How about goofdoucheous?

Dan Rather on the passing of Walter Cronkite...what a man!

Walter Cronkite on Dan Rather.

Has a rather Caddyshack quality to it.

dbp said...

goofballsiness: I'm with Balfegor on this.

"I would have thought "goofballsiness" to be the quality of making a fool of oneself for public amusement"

The previous post is a good example of Althouse's goofballsiness. She, a Law professor is willing to open herself to (unwarrented but inevitable) attack by posting delightfully weird thought streams. That is the essence of goofballsiness--bravery + silliness.

The Elder said...

It surprises me not at all that this word was coined after spending time with Meade.

No surprise at all.

bagoh20 said...

That "testicles" file is plumping out quite nicely.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Meet the King of Goofballsiness.

lucid said...

OK, goofballsiness is a great word. But I have a good one also: Obamulations--Time, Newsweek, MSNBC, the NY Times and the MSM generally doing "journalism" about Obama.