phffft.

n.  the sound of a surgical procedure to the roof of the mouth so as to “enhance natural loyalties,” as in the novel Nekropolis by Maureen F. McHugh.

Phffft.

n.  the title of a film from 1954.

<Axelrod wrote his first script for Hollywood, 1954’s Phffft! which featured Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday as a divorced couple.  —“In Remembrance: George Axelrod,” FilmBuffOnline.com.>

n.  the title of an audio/visual artform by a musician and sculptor who goes by the name Trimpin, consisting of “a computerized collection of tubular organ pipes, duck calls, accordion reeds and other gadgets that rumble, squeak and crash” while hanging from the ceiling (ClemsoNews).

phffft.

n.  the whooshing of something disappearing in thin air; see also phfft.

<She insists, he resists; they fall in love.  And then—phffft!—she disappears from his life.  —Glenn Lovell, “Head Games,” Mercury News.>

n.  the whooshing of world events “spiraling past so fast, flirting with our peripheral vision, that we have little time to properly frame an image or capture a reflective thought” (Kathleen Parker, “2003: Phffft!  What Was That?” Jewish World Review).

- END OF PREVIEW - To read more, see the "Search Inside" feature at Amazon.com