Chuffing

[Marc Peters]

Would anyone care to define the word 'chuffing' for me? As in,"'I'm not chuffing satisfied with this service".

[LJR]

It's where the leather high-heel thigh length boots rub on the inside of your leg just below the sussi belt....oh wait..sorry....that's chafing.

um...it's a lifestyle choice.

[Alan Mills]

"Chuffing" is from the latin chufini, pronounced 'chuff-in-eye' which means "as hoped for". The expression was westernised around the time steam locomotives came along.

Such expression as "It's chuffin along nicely" came about when the early model locos which were prone to breaking down a lot actually started to show consistency in their operation.

Overheard by young children the childish expression 'chuff-chuff' was born to represent these steam locomotives in a positive light.

So there you are the expression means "as hoped for" or "going along nicely". It tends to be used nowadays to simply represent a generic positive or emphasis to a given statement.

Examples.

"I chuffing well will" would translate more literally into "I would be happy to"

"Not chuffing likely" -> "I would not be happy doing it"

"Anus Chufini" -> "A very good year" (as opposed to what the Queen had a few years back!)

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TRUE or BLUFF?????

[Ian in Northampton]

Bluff, Mr. Mills... For 'chuffing' see 'frigging', 'freaking' etc....

[Alan Mills]

Bluff

Oh well. Worth a try!

I really liked the "Anus Chufini" bit too!

[Alan Mills]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chuff

[Ian in Northampton]

Millsy: you were doing fine until the very end. The queen had a bad year - 'annus horribilis' - rather than a gastro-intestinal problem caused by the ingestion of copious amounts of Chicken Phal after seven pints of lager...

A chuff is also, I believe - according to my twitchy friends - a kind of bird. Might be spelt 'chough' though.