# Why is the dog in Family Circus called "Barfy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845 "2009-11-08T22:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/1 "2009-11-08T22:06:58Z")
Does it have anything to do with vomit? ---
**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:** [November 8, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/2 "2009-11-08T22:28:14Z")
[Nope](http://www.familycircus.com/mylife/mylife.html) > [@](#): > > I launched “Channel Chuckles” in 1954, a syndicated cartoon about TV. The TV repairman was at our house so much I thought he was part of the family. In fact, later I named one of my cartoon characters after him: Barfy. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/3 "2009-11-08T22:56:57Z")
Didn’t Sandy, Little Orphan Annie’s dog, typically go “BARF!”? ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/4 "2009-11-09T05:09:35Z")
No…it’s a desciption of how sickeningly sweet the comic strip is. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/5 "2009-11-09T05:15:14Z")
I thought it referred to a noise the dog made. And I refuse to be swayed by othe explanation, as that is still a noise one of my dog makes regularly. Prove me wrong by sending me your non-barfitrocious pup and maybe I will stop dreaming about our late Corndog barfing on my feet. ETA: God, I loved that little vomitorium. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/6 "2009-11-09T05:16:10Z")
Seriously, it’s _not_ named after vomit? I always assumed it was! ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/7 "2009-11-09T06:04:32Z")
It’s short for Barfolomew. ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/8 "2009-11-09T06:07:44Z")
In the sanitized Keane World, “barf” is the sound a doggy makes, not what he does on your new shoes right before a hot date. ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/9 "2009-11-09T07:13:52Z")
Taking the opportunity to once again post this most glorious of [comics](http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/10 "2009-11-09T13:55:07Z")
Next you’ll be telling me the title of the movie “Barfly” isn’t an adverb! ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/11 "2009-11-09T17:07:11Z")
> [@'\[cc](#): > > ;11756484’]Taking the opportunity to once again post this most glorious of [comics](http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/). Yikes! That’s a little slice of awesome. Sadly, it’s also the most Nietzsche I’ve read in … well, ever. It motivates me to go see what that Zarathustra guy spake about and how it relates to Little Billy’s walkabouts. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/12 "2009-11-09T17:16:52Z")
This thread is win. If I see a Family Circus comic now I will just picture a little dog in the corner vomiting and I will smile. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/13 "2009-11-09T17:28:53Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Didn’t Sandy, Little Orphan Annie’s dog, typically go “BARF!”? I recall a parody of LOA in which the dog said “Barf”. I don’t think it was Little Annie Fanny… probably Little Orphan Amphetamine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/14 "2009-11-09T18:45:40Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > I launched “Channel Chuckles” in 1954, a syndicated cartoon about TV. The TV repairman was at our house so much I thought he was part of the family. In fact, later I named one of my cartoon characters after him: Barfy. This just makes me more curious. Why was the TV repairman named “Barfy”? Is that his family name or a nickname? I mean, the image of the dog hurling all over the floor was weird enough, but now I have this image of a TV repairman repeatedly coming over to their house and throwing up. What sort of bizarre shit was going on in the Keane household that would involve a TV repairman vomiting frequently enough for him to get a nickname for it? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/15 "2009-11-09T18:55:26Z")
It is quite possible that the name was given to allude to the possibility that a child would mispronounce “Barky” as “Barfy”. Keane chickened out though when he didn’t name the cat “Shitty”. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/16 "2009-11-09T19:03:45Z")
> [@Pixiesnix](#): > > It’s short for Barfolomew. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/17 "2009-11-09T19:20:25Z")
The expression was less common as a euphemism for “vomit” when the dog was named. [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/barf) dates it to “1955-60”. It probably took a few years after that to become ubiquitous. So it had nothing to do with hurling when the TV repairman used it as a nickname, nor when Keane adopted it into “Channel Chuckles” (1954), and probably only a minimal association when he transferred it to the dog in Family Circus (1960). I guess it sounded good at the time because “barf” is a combination of “bark” and “arf”, the latter of which is often used as a phonetic representation of a bark. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/18 "2009-11-09T19:33:49Z")
> [@Pixiesnix](#): > > It’s short for Barfolomew. Nope. It’s short for Barfyl’yathatopp’shig’gy. See, the kids named the dog after the ancient Black God of Unnaturally Mishapen Horrors, as described in the obscure H.P. Lovecraft story “the Unspeakably Monstrous Wholesome Children.” Lovecraft, as every one knows, was the first to dream up the Bad Seed trope of the sickly sweet adorable tot who is actually a devious spawn of Satan. The Family Circus kids are of course, worshippers of the Unspeakable Horrors From Before Time Began. OK, Actually, I made that up. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/19 "2009-11-09T19:36:56Z")
I’d be willing to believe that he was named after a bark/arf sound. I’m not so sure about the TV repairman. The article quoted is written in tall tales speak, starting with: > [@](#): > > I was born in Philadelphia. Well, I wasn’t exactly born, I was discovered there by Benjamin Franklin (Oct. 5, 1922). The tone suggests that liberties may have been taken for the sake of humor. Thanks to Freddy for the etymology cite. I had enough energy to check one more site. The Online Etymology Dictionary agrees. > [@](#): > > "to vomit or retch,“1960, Amer.Eng. slang, probably onomatopoeic. . .” ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845/20 "2009-11-09T20:08:01Z")
Back in the Eighties, I once had to explain to a lifelong Brooklynite, born 1940, what “barf” meant. Funny thing was that another time, a conversation about vomit was taking place around us and he was so outraged that he told a story on one of the conversers that he had pointedly kept to his vest a previous time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-dog-in-family-circus-called-barfy/516845.md?page=2)