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Chris -- 2018-04-11
pootling about – 3,910 ghits
poodling about – 687 ghits
(Having just written ‘pootling’ it strikes me what a very Wodehousian word it is.) To pootle about is to proceed at a very leisurely pace, probably in no particular direction. ‘Poodle about’ on Google gives hits mainly about poodles so I’ve gone for’poodling about’. I’m trying to imagine that there’s something about poodles that suggests pootling to eggcorners; dogs do pootle about and some quite leisurely but I’m finding it hard to muster much conviction. Jorkel’s recent post on trader/traiter results, perhaps, from AmEnglish’s tendency to sound t’s as d’s. This isn’t common in BrEnglish as we seem to prefer the glottal stop but I suppose it’s a possibility…
I can think of nothing better that poodling about in my kitchen creating something, unhurried, glass of wine in one hand, music iin the background. Love it. ...
fatmammycat.blogspot.com/2006/09/food-glorious-food.html – 39k –
I can spend hours on the internet , just randomly poodling about . . . I like it in fact , and like it more when I randomly intersperse it with wandering …
cal-j-fielding.livejournal.com/ – 43k – Supplemental Result –
Top day by the sound of it :-) It never fails to amaze me how I manage to enjoy myself when I’m alone poodling about in the woods. ...
www.bushcraftuk.com/community/archive/i …1846.html6k
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I don’t remember ever having heard or seen “to pootle,” and I wonder whether the word is largely British. The OED says nothing about that, but it appears that the dictionary didn’t start listing “to pootle” until 1993, and the first citation is from 1977. So this is apparently a fairly young word as far as the lexicographers are concerned. However, the OED does list a verb “to poodle”; here’s the second definition given for it:
2. intr. (Usu. with advbs.) To move or travel in a leisurely manner. colloq.
The earliest citation is from a book published in 1938. And the etymology section of “to pootle” opines that the word was originally a blend of the verb “to poodle” with “to tootle.”
But I don’t think your guess that some of the people writing “pootle” as “poodle” are American is nec’ly wrong. I suspect your last example was written by a Briton (It’s on a UK-specific site and Americans wouldn’t usually say “Top day by the sound of it”), but the others could be Americans who are trying to use “pootle,” which seems to be replacing its parent term on the Internet. I’ve noticed that certain American bloggers affect British slang in their posts—especially those who are big fans of British writers— and they sometimes Americanize it or just plainly get it wrong.
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Hmmm – and with a change of vowel we would have “piddling about” (4,730 ghits,) which means much the same but without much of the element of locomotion. Piddle (and pittle) can also mean urination when used without the ‘about’. Piddle, pittle, poodle, pootle,(then poodle again,) may be a series of euphemisms moving ever further from “piss”, as in “pissing about” (54,200 ghits).
I really love this site.
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