Strange & Unusual References Home | All-Vowel Words »


P
phffft.
v.  divorced; see also phfft, pff-fft.

<In his nationally syndicated column, [Walter] Winchell gave space to the couple when they got married.  And the same five years later, when they went phffft.  —Richard Corliss, “Three Reasons to Love New York—Part III,” Time.>

phfft.
adj.  incapacitated.

<Has anyone a concrete case, that this battery is “phfft & total kaputt.”  —Heinrich Tauscher, Mir.com.>

adj.  limp.

<What might have been an action-driven suspenser about a woman hiding from her double-dealing, dangerous hubby instead sags into a flabby, stylized teleplay that goes phfft.  Written by Karen Black without much pizzazz, and directed adequately by Alan Metzger with some tense moments that do help, “Circle of Deceit” mostly chases its shadows.  —Tony Scott, “Circle of Deceit,” Variety.>

interj.  “that’s crazy!”

<I mean, we all hear voices, but when you start answering them—phfft!  —Anonymous viewer of the television show “Wonderfalls” quoted in “‘Wonderfalls,’ a Comedy-Drama, May Seem Over the Edge to Some” by Gail Pennington, St. Louis Dispatch.>

interj.  a sputtering of disgust or contempt.

<“An... an hour’s passed already?”  “Phfft,” he sputters in disgust, “no you dummy.  It’s been about fifteen minutes.”  —Don Lara, “The Slow Burn.”>


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



Buy Now from Amazon.com

TURN TO Q's
TURN TO Q's
Copyright (c) 2000 Craig Conley