goofy, a. slang.
(ˈguːfɪ)
[f. goof n. + -y1.]
1. Stupid, silly, daft.
| 1921 Collier's 19 Feb. 6/3 ‘How d'ye like California?’ ‘Fried!’ says Knockout with a goofy grin. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xvii. 232 He was lying back in an arm-chair with his mouth open and a sort of goofy expression in his eyes. 1928 Daily Express 26 Sept. 13 ‘I have gone completely goofy over Mr. Robey,’..writes one Montreal critic. 1931 Observer 11 Oct. 15 The ‘sap’ gone ‘goofy’. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xxi. 214 They describe it as a ‘hell-hole’ where you ‘get goofy with the heat’. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart i. iii. 136 Your dear little goofy face. 1951 S. Kaye-Smith Mrs Gailey 25 Two women..so utterly unlike her friends—one snooty and the other goofy. 1958 [see animation 8]. |
2. Surf-riding. goofy foot, footer, surfer, one who rides a surfboard with the right foot forward instead of the left.
| 1962 Austral. Women's Weekly 24 Oct. Suppl. 3/2 Goofy foot, a very good [surf] rider who reverses the usual way of standing by putting right foot in front of left. 1965 J. Pollard Surfrider ii. 19 I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were a ‘goofy footer’—a board man who rides with the right instead of the left foot forward. 1966 Surfer VII. No. 4. 53 Fred Hemmings displayed spectacular foot work at Yokahama, riding left foot forward and then switching to goofy foot. 1967 International Surfing III. iii. 69 Huntington's hot goofy-footer, Farrent, is a power surfer. 1968 Surfer Mag. Jan. 48/1, I realised goofy-footer Carroll would have an advantage. 1968 W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. 11 This turn is performed..by right foot forward goofy surfers, when they turn to the left. 1970 Surf '70 (N.Z.) 13/1 Allan Byrne is one of the top goofy-foots in the world. |