Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
tes fit to duff you
English answer:
It's enough to upset anyone
Added to glossary by
Mark Robertson
Apr 23, 2019 09:25
5 yrs ago
English term
tes fit to duff you
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
'And a dirty bitch of a mongrel.' Jud's scandalized voice followed them
as he caught sight of their escort. 'Lord Almighty, tes fit to duff you, we'll
be adopting a blathering poorhouse next.'
Garrick lifted a whiskery eye at him and trotted past. There had been
talk concerning himself, he felt, at the fork roads, but the matter had been
amicably settled.
as he caught sight of their escort. 'Lord Almighty, tes fit to duff you, we'll
be adopting a blathering poorhouse next.'
Garrick lifted a whiskery eye at him and trotted past. There had been
talk concerning himself, he felt, at the fork roads, but the matter had been
amicably settled.
Change log
May 1, 2019 21:29: Mark Robertson Created KOG entry
Responses
+2
1 hr
Mark Robertson
Native in English
&
English
Translations by lawyers for lawyers
Native in: English 
Works in: Portuguese to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Selected
It's enough to upset anyone
see discussion entry
Note from asker:
| thank you so much |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: makes sense. Only heard "duff" with meaning of "hit" before which doesn't fit here //ah yes, have seen it used as an adjective meaning unfit for purpose:-).
28 mins
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Thanks Yvonne. Duff also means not good for purpose, among other things.
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| agree |
B D Finch
1 hr
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| neutral |
philgoddard
: Maybe, but it would be good to see some evidence for "duff" and I haven't been able to find any. It's a verb here, so presumably nothing to do with fitness for purpose. And yes, to duff someone up is to beat them up.
1 hr
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OED, p. 1107: Duff: to make a mess of something; worthless, spurious, bad
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
17 hrs
David Hollywood
Native in English
&
English
worked for int. orgs (IMF, OAS, IDB)
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
118
it's enough to get your goat
in the sense of get you bothered
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Note added at 17 hrs (2019-04-24 02:56:58 GMT)
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very idiomatic but that's the meaning here
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Note added at 17 hrs (2019-04-24 02:58:47 GMT)
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I understand that this may be hard to swallow but as we're looking for idiomatic renditions, I stand my ground
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Note added at 18 hrs (2019-04-24 04:18:06 GMT)
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and that's the meaning
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Note added at 17 hrs (2019-04-24 02:56:58 GMT)
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very idiomatic but that's the meaning here
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Note added at 17 hrs (2019-04-24 02:58:47 GMT)
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I understand that this may be hard to swallow but as we're looking for idiomatic renditions, I stand my ground
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Note added at 18 hrs (2019-04-24 04:18:06 GMT)
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and that's the meaning
Note from asker:
| thank you so much |
Discussion
And now you've pointed that out, I can hear the 'tes in the Cornish accent
By Winston Graham. Someone who is duffed up is by extension out of sorts/annoyed/upset. Tes means tis/it's, so the phrase means: It's enough to upset anyone.
This sounds like a period text, so without knowing what period it comes from, I couldn't say if it mightn't possibly have had some other meaning back then.
As for 'tes', that's a bit puzzling; could there be some kind of typo? Or a transcription error, for something like "Ted's"? Or maybe this is some archaic / regional term I'm not familiar with, in the way that 'thee' or 'tha' is still in use even today in places like Yorkshire... but 'tes' sounds odd to my ears.