Talk:duff

In Australia, there is an old slang expression 'duff gen' which means 'bad information'. Is there a linguist out there who can elaborate on the Australian slang use of the word 'duff'? — This unsigned comment was added by Jimhenderson (talk • contribs).

• It's already there – Etymology 2, Adjective. It means "worthless". Widsith 09:24, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

I've heard it used to describe plant detritus, especially when you walk in the redwoods and the ground feels spongy/springy to walk on due to all the redwood bark fibers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_litter Rudestar (talk) 04:56, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

That's the first noun definition under Etymology 2. Chuck Entz (talk) 05:20, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Baseball

I can't find any citations to support the alleged baseball term. Anyone else? Thmazing (talk) 03:25, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Quick skim through Google Books: no (but I have just irrelevantly learned that there was formerly a team called the Portland Duffs). Can see the usual adjective use, as in "a duff outfielder". Also this oddity (is "baseball romance" a genre? lol): 2017, Kendra C. Highley, Swinging at Love: “A slumpbuster is a DUFF you nail to break a hitting slump. Baseball players go after plain girls and try to hook up with them. It's a superstition. Damned baseball players and their stupid rituals.” Equinox ◑ 03:35, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

By the way, "baseball slang 1800s" is a gloss I have seen on numerous entries, suggesting we imported these en masse from an old out-of-copyright source (as with the old thieves' slang). So, cherchez la source: it might have more info. Equinox ◑ 03:37, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Is there a shortcut to such cherchezery? Thmazing (talk) 01:59, 17 December 2019 (UTC)