Help me identify a phrase

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I debated whether to put this in GQ or here, so mods, please move it if I chose poorly!

Last night, as I was dropping off to sleep, a phrase popped into my head. I know I’ve seen/heard it somewhere before, but I can’t remember where. Google is no help, except that there’s a Spanish-language blog that uses the phrase (which makes me think my brain isn’t just making something up to mess with me).

The phrase is: Fiddle, Faddle, Fun and Fury.

I’m vaguely thinking it’s either in reference to some snack product, or else it was the subtitle for a blog or other website in the early days of the Web. Probably the latter.

I know Fiddle-Faddle is/was a snack food (which is probably why snacks came up as a possibiity), but that’s not what I’m looking for.

Does it ring a bell for anyone?

2

Fiddle faddle means nonsense. That phrase was “borrowed” for the snack food.

The ONLY use of the phrase “fiddle faddle” that I can remember (without Fun and Fury) was from the old “Rocky and Bullwinkle” cartoon show.

There was a segment on the show where a character was able to time travel with the help of Mister Wizard." The character would get into trouble, and would yell, “Help, Mister Wizard!”

By chanting a phrase, the wizard would bring the time traveler home:

"Fiddle, faddle, drizzle, drone!
“Time for this one to come home.”
~VOW

3

“Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome; Time for this one to come home”

4

Thank you for the correction.
~VOW

5

No problem. I wasn’t familiar with the character - when I was a lad, Rocky and Bullwinkle had Sherman and Peabody, McBragg, and Tennessee Tuxedo as associates, but not Tooter (as I recall)

6

“Fiddle-Faddle,” is a song composed by Leroy (“Syncopated Clock”) Anderson in 1947 for The Boston Pops. Probably nothing to do with the OP’s phrase, but maybe it’ll trigger something for someone.

7

That, or something like it, is also a lyric in the Replacements’ song “Hold My Life.” Always assumed it was just something they made up.

8

It was the title of an article in New Woman, Volume 14, February 1984, p.10.

It may, in fact, have been a regular segment in the magazine.

9

Yes, it looks like it was.

10

That’s the New Woman catchphrase; the old catchphrase is “Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

11

Could it possibly originate in the tale about Jack and the Beanstalk? I seem to recall the giant’s calling phrase was, “Fee Fi Foh Fum”. But it’s so easy to mix up these things.

I hope you realize I’m just trying to be funny to insert a little humor into this thread.

I sincerely hope you find the source of this phrase. I would venture a guess that you have almost surely tried to use Google to search for it. Good Luck!
Oh Look! See what I found using Google?

I’m not fooling this time. Honest!

I searched for “Fiddle Faddle Fun Fury”

Maybe omitting the “and” was the thing required?

12

From my OP: “Google is no help, except that there’s a Spanish-language blog that uses the phrase (which makes me think my brain isn’t just making something up to mess with me).” :slight_smile:

So yes, I did use Google, and no, that’s not what I’m looking for. Wherever I saw this, it was definitely an English-language location, and it was many years ago. I’m almost certain it was sometime in the 90s or early 2000s, back when the Web was just getting going.

13

FWIW, “fiddle-faddle” is a very old word, dating to the 1570s. The OP’s phrase doesn’t ring any bells with me though.

14

What about the New Woman references mentioned? That is English-language, and it appears to be the name of a recurring column in that magazine (though a late-70s to 80s reference). I also see a reference to it in the Palm Beach Post, Aug. 4, 1982, but that is referencing the New Woman column.