# Etymology of "Google-fu"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197 "2007-07-10T14:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/1 "2007-07-10T14:26:51Z")
It is clear from context what people mean by Google-fu, but is this a humorous back-construction from some other kind of “fu”? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/2 "2007-07-10T14:28:16Z")
kung ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/3 "2007-07-10T14:42:58Z")
ISTR that the original “kung-fu is strong” quote originates with Bruce Lee, but I can’t recall what exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/4 "2007-07-10T14:50:16Z")
The idea of adding “fu” to random words might have been popularized by the film critic Joe Bob Briggs. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/5 "2007-07-10T15:14:34Z")
Yeah, his reviews would include the vital statistics of the movie. Something like… “27 dead bodies, 1 rolling head, 3 quarts blood, 4 breasts; 3 car accidents (one with crash-and-burn), kung-fu, shovel-fu, chainsaw-fu. Drive-In Academy Award to Darla Dumplings, as the camp counsellor who gives swimming lessons with a difference (if you know what I mean, and I think you do)…” The man was a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/6 "2007-07-10T15:20:43Z")
There was a X-files episode (so we’re talking TV, not the real world) where one of the Men in Black claims that “my kung-fu is better than your kung-fu” in relation to his hacking skills. That might have something to do with it. Or maybe I’m crazy. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/7 "2007-07-10T15:38:13Z")
IIRC, _fu_ as in _kung-fu_ means _skill_. The _kung_ part? I dunno, maybe _spicy chicken_, as in _kung-pow_ 😉 . So English, in its usual habit of plundering other languages, now has us stapling _-fu_ onto non-Chinese words, like a little boy with a big pack of Post-It® Notes. I haven’t had much practice at this new construction. My _fu-fu_ is weak. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/8 "2007-07-10T15:44:06Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] IIRC, _fu_ as in _kung-fu_ means _skill_. The _kung_ part? I dunno, maybe _spicy chicken_, as in _kung-pow_ 😉 . So English, in its usual habit of plundering other languages, now has us stapling _-fu_ onto non-Chinese words, like a little boy with a big pack of Post-It® Notes. I haven’t had much practice at this new construction. My _fu-fu_ is weak. :smack: [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > We don’t just _borrow_ words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. — James D. Nicoll 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/9 "2007-07-10T15:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] IIRC, _fu_ as in _kung-fu_ means _skill_. The _kung_ part? I dunno, maybe _spicy chicken_, as in _kung-pow_ 😉 . So English, in its usual habit of plundering other languages, now has us stapling _-fu_ onto non-Chinese words, like a little boy with a big pack of Post-It® Notes. I haven’t had much practice at this new construction. My _fu-fu_ is weak. :smack: [/QUOTE] Does your resistance make you a fu-fighter? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/10 "2007-07-10T16:24:16Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] There was a X-files episode (so we’re talking TV, not the real world) where one of the Men in Black claims that “my kung-fu is better than your kung-fu” in relation to his hacking skills. That might have something to do with it. Or maybe I’m crazy. [/QUOTE] The x-files would have been my guess, too. ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/11 "2007-07-10T19:36:58Z")
One of the first _whatever_-fu references I remember from nerd/internet culture is “script-fu”, which was (is?) The Gimp’s scripting language, which seems to have first been referred to by that name in late 1998. Joe Bob Briggs’ usage definitely predates that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/12 "2007-07-10T19:45:47Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] There was a X-files episode (so we’re talking TV, not the real world) where one of the Men in Black claims that “my kung-fu is better than your kung-fu” in relation to his hacking skills. That might have something to do with it. Or maybe I’m crazy. [/QUOTE] \<90s nerd\> Wouldn’t that have been the Lone Gunmen, not the men in black? \ ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/13 "2007-07-11T03:42:50Z")
Joe Bob Briggs’s use of “fu” as a suffix definitely predates the TV show _X-Files_. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/14 "2007-07-11T04:31:22Z")
And of course ‘fu’ is unrelated to hackers’ use of the word ‘foo’. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/15 "2007-07-11T05:45:04Z")
All this time and not one \*Fu Bird \* joke? You guys are slipping. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/16 "2007-07-11T12:01:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] And of course ‘fu’ is unrelated to hackers’ use of the word ‘foo’. [/QUOTE] I have always associated the use of ‘foo’ with the use of ‘foobar,’ a variation on fubar that is spelled like it sounds. FUBAR standing for Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. That is similar to my association with the X-files use of kung-fu and Google-fu, it’s not research, just my association. I suspect that sometimes words are repopularized, especially when they fit a new context. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/17 "2007-07-11T14:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] Does your resistance make you a fu-fighter? [/QUOTE] Resistance is Fu-tile. 😃 My humor-fu is weak. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-google-fu/411197/18 "2007-07-11T15:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=SiXSwordS] I have always associated the use of ‘foo’ with the use of ‘foobar,’ a variation on fubar that is spelled like it sounds. FUBAR standing for Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. [/QUOTE] That’s where it comes from in the context of hacking/programming - ‘foo’ would be the first choice of name for an impromptu variable or procedure. If another was needed shortly afterwards, it would be ‘bar’.