What is GUTFUDUM?

GUTFUDUM is something that my Dad used to mumble that I always heard wrong growing up. It was never written down and we never talked about it. So rather than knowing, I only ever imagined its meaning.

That is what GUTFUDUM is.

Now…I have since cleaned up the audio and traced all the wrong turns in its etymology to understand what it is supposed to mean.

But…I prefer the wrong turns.

So as I use it now, GUTFUDUM is both a curse and a celebration of the motley misunderstandings of memory, language, culture and meaning itself.

When I was in middle school, a teacher once asked each person in our class to share something that they took for granted.

I said, “I don’t take anything for granted.”

“Not even the ground beneath your feet?”

“Not even the ground beneath my feet.”

Was I being a smart ass? You betcha. But I wasn’t just being a smart ass. I took it to heart…and developed a weird limp. But…I have never stepped in dog shit.

Is that a true story? As far as I can tell. It’s hard to say. And that is the story of my life.

And while that has predictably been a problem in the past, going forward I hope to instead make it a feature through this newsletter and other outlets, applying a healthy skepticism to curiosities of this world, favoring the questions over any answer we might imagine, diving into the darker parts when the water is deep enough and coming up for air with a nervous, indulgent absurdism, balancing the anxiety of uncertainty with the joy of misunderstanding.

Or you know…some philosophy, some horror and some humor.

That is what GUTFUDUM is.

But keep checking back. It could change.

“Did I leave the stove on?”

GUTFUDUM