You don’t hear the word fantoosh all that often nowadays but I think it is a great word and I use it whenever I can.

If something or someone is being described as being fantoosh it means that they, or it, is overdressed, ultra fashionable, over-ornamented, too fancy. Just downright over the top.

I always think that this word should be of French derivation as quite a lot of Scottish words are, due to the influence of the French people who came to Edinburgh when Mary, Queen of Scots came back from France as a young widow. There is a part of Edinburgh which is still called Little France, however I can’t find any evidence that it derives from French.

I do think that fantoosh is quite presbyterian though as I’ve always heard it used in a slightly disapproving way. It’s the feeling that anything too fancy must be sinful. It’s the influence of Calvinism I suppose.

Anyway, I really like fantoosh and I’d hate it to die out, although I suppose if you were in America it might sound a bit rude to some people as it’s almost like two words for bum (butt) spliced together.

That might make it all the more desirable to use though, just for a laugh.