What does the word 'Fudd' mean to you?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dave DeLaurant

Dave DeLaurant

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
3,626
Location
People's Republic of California, Central Valley
I've been trying to get a lock on exactly how others are using this term, because the two general meanings I have in mind don't seem to cover the spectrum of contemporary use. A silly point at first glance, but language can come back and bite you.

When I think Fudd, the first thing that comes to mind is the image provided by Warner Bros.: an enthusiastic but bumbling city dweller trying a little too hard to be weekend hunter. His image is chained to the pre-Vietnam War era by his Hunter Red attire -- never blaze orange or camo. I believe that most of Bugs/Fudd cartoons were made during the 1950s.

The second meaning for Fudd comes from the expression Fuddlore, which I take to mean gun and hunting anecdotes, taken from old magazines or simply word of mouth and long accepted as truth without supporting evidence. In other words, the shooting world's equivalent of urban legends. The danger of the Garand ping and the failure M1 Carbine ammo on Chinese winter garb are a couple of well-known examples that will still ignite arguments today.

Another variation on this kind of Fudd is the guy who posts memes with supposedly famous RKBA quotes without bothering to check their factual accuracy. This nonsense tends to make all gun owners look ignorant.

I tried looking up 'Fudd' on Wiktionary; what I found was, "A gun-owner who supports traditional hunting guns but favors gun control for other guns such as handguns or tactical rifles." Huh? This definition offends the old cartoon fan in me. If Elmer Fudd had some political subtext, it was buried too deep for me, and anyway he predates the RKBA wars that followed the Kennedy assassination. The US 'tactical rifle' (whatever that means -- didn't they have rifles and tactics in the Civil War?) in the Fudd era would have been the M1 Garand.

But that's just me -- do you use the term Fudd, and if so, how?

BTW, I am taken it for granted that THR is a Fudd-free zone -- gentlemen don't call other gentlemen Fudds.


Elmer_in_Rabbit_Fire.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have always taken FUDD to be a derogatory term for gun owners that are only concerned with hunting and how it related to gun ownership. They do not take the entirety of the 2A as seriously as other pro-gun sub-groups do.

ie a FUDD would be OK with the 94AWB since it did not effect their deer rifle or his duck gun.
 
Last edited:
Oh, you are posting about the other f-word.

Fudds to me are the ones that believe rifles and shotguns are for hunting purposes only, no one "needs" ____ capacity, no one "needs" a semi-automatic, no one "needs" a "high" powered rifle, no one "needs" anything more than a single shot shotgun, rifle, etc, no one "needs" a military rifle, no one "needs" anything other than a revolver, and so on.

Fudds in my estimation are those that believe their choices in firearms should apply to everyone else as well and that the 2A applies to hunting only.
 
I generalize it with other pop culture buzz words like Millennial, boomer, fan boi, Snowflake, Etc.

My personal givashitometer reads quite low for applying any strict zeitgeist definition to any of these.

I can say, the context in which I have heard Fudd used has had little to nothing to do with hunting or Warner Bros.
 
I grew up with the cartoon reel and later took it to mean any clueless person who gravitated toward safe or boring activity. Those who don’t really “live”.

A “Barney” was a rent-a-cop or a know nothing with an interest in the general field of law enforcement. Such a fellow could often speak to which firearms particular agencies used and promote that usage as proof of superiority of that platform.

A “Gomer” was any Service member who resembled that favorite Marine of ours on TV who’s mental aptitude was in need of haranguing. I first heard the term used by a college roommate and its usage was reserved for fellows he served with or those he knew on campus who had served. As such, I surmised it was not acceptable for me to speak the term aloud and I refrained.

All 3 terms were references to television personalities as I comprehend them, though having taken a human anthropology course or two combined with real world experience would lead me to believe there are other definitions or words to describe the above. My wife buys a rack of water while I grab a case of beer.
 
To me a Fudd is one who believes in the Second Amendment, but..... I don't use the term, but I do recognize that there are gun owners among us that would accept a ban of MSRs, EBRs (or whatever you want to call them) as well as other infringements.
 
boom boom said:
Oh, you are posting about the other f-word.

Fudds to me are the ones that believe rifles and shotguns are for hunting purposes only, no one "needs" ____ capacity, no one "needs" a semi-automatic, no one "needs" a "high" powered rifle, no one "needs" anything more than a single shot shotgun, rifle, etc, no one "needs" a military rifle, no one "needs" anything other than a revolver, and so on.

Fudds in my estimation are those that believe their choices in firearms should apply to everyone else as well and that the 2A applies to hunting only.
Click to expand...
So the Non-Fudds who believe their choices in firearms should apply to everyone else and the 2A only means CCW reciprocity are what exactly????
 
Kevin5098 said:
To me a Fudd is one who believes in the Second Amendment, but..... I don't use the term, but I do recognize that there are gun owners among us that would accept a ban of MSRs, EBRs (or whatever you want to call them) as well as other infringements.
Click to expand...
I disagree, not everyone that doesn't like a certain firearm wants it banned. The same holds true for those who gripe about folks who buy expensive firearms (wealth envy is what it appears to be) and think everyone should be buying cheap guns because they are only "tools"
 
Or Fudds could simply refer to rabbit hunters, no duck hunters, no rabbit hunters.

AKA Kill the Wabbit.
 
A Fudd is a person who believes their opinion is the only valid one. With gun guys it shows up as "Just by a glock", or "the 6.5cm isn't doing anything the 6.6x55 hasn't done for 100 years", "who needs an ar15? I have my m1a", or the worst " I don't care if they ban that thing, I don't own any..." The truth may be in any of these statements, but when these statements reflect the ONLY mental output from an individual, they are in danger of being a FUDD.
 
Fudd is the firearm version of the famous "it doesn't effect me so I don't care" person. Every political issue has them. The Fudd thing is unique because its a sub faction of a culture, rather than a my-side-vs-your-side issue. For me, its the geezers at gunshops (reference to an earlier post) that bitch at you when you want to look at something designed after 1955. Or the rangemasters that give the well known "the only purpose of that rifle is to kill a human being" speech whenever they see anything newer in design that an '03 springfield. Or the people at ranges with deer rifles that just stare at you half the time your there, really, they will just stare in disgust for an hour, taking three or so really bad shots in the meantime, and mumbling among themselves the reason they cant shoot -these BTW are the only Fudds I see under age 50. All three groups have largely dried up in recent years. .
 
In current terminology, a Fudd owns perhaps 1-3 guns- a lever or bolt deer rifle, a long barreled hunting pump shotgun, and a .22 rifle. No semi autos, except for maybe something like a Remington 7400, 11-87 or a Marlin 60. Anything in the semi-auto military style is strongly frowned upon and handguns are used by criminals. There are MILLIONS of owners like this in the country.
 
Varminterror said:
In general, this would seem to be an ironic Fudd statement. The rabid 6.5 creedmoor fanbois are the ones who would call YOU a Fudd for trying to disparage the 6.5 creed.
Click to expand...
yup, I'm that Fudd that calls it the 6.5 Sweedmore, and tells people to get a 7-08, or 7Mauser because "the round should be older than you"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

E
  • Locked
No quiz/What do you think.../Long
Replies
0
Views
292
eclancy
E
E
  • Locked
What do you..M1
Replies
22
Views
688
Eightball
E
A
  • Locked
Over 60 years later, is the "Assault Rifle" concept still viable in modern combat?
2 3
Replies
68
Views
4K
Art Eatman
A
R
  • Locked
Rifle definitions
Replies
5
Views
437
Gewehr98
G
R
  • Locked
What do you think of immediately when you hear these words? Pistol, carbine, etc.
Replies
4
Views
397
akodo
A
Back
Top