In that, uh, classic, 80’s hit, “Valley Girl”, I understand most of the “Valspeak” used throughout the song. However, there’s one term I don’t get. Here’s the line:
“He’s like Mr. BU-FU (Valley Girl)
We’re talking Lord God King BU-FU (Valley Girl)”
What the heck does “BU-FU” mean?
I have an idea, but when I Google the phrase, all I get is references to the song.
As me and mine used it (I’m a year or so younger than Moon) that would be ‘Butt Fucker’.
A derogatory descriptor for someone dorky and undesirable.
That was my guess, but the rest of that verse:
“He like sits there and like plays with all his rings
And he like flirts with all the guys in the class
It’s like totally disgusting”
leads me to believe he’s gay and not a dork (although I’m sure there are gay dorks).
Just reporting the way we used it (wrong coast from the Valley, though I did spend some time in Redondo Beach).
Fair enough.
I had never heard the term outside the song.
Was that before the FUBU brand (for us, by us) or after?
Long before.
“Valley Girl” came out in 1982.
As a denizen of California during my early teens, I confirm that boo-foo means what Jonathan Chance says it means.
However, the term definitely signifies a homosexual man, rather than a mere dorky undesirable. Boo-foo can also be used as a verb.
That guy is such a boo-foo / I heard she got totally boo-foo’d in the jacuzzi after we left.
I loved that song. It pretty clearly meant butt pirate, or rump ranger, or fag, or whatever you want to call those Bu-Fus. But I don’t take any offense with it. Moon Unit was making fun of Valley Girls and their attitudes, not the Bu-Fu’s themselves.