Before saving today’s post, I looked up the spelling for “fandangled.” I couldn’t find it in any of the dictionaries online. However, I did find the word used (same spelling) in many posts listed at Google. So what is the deal? Just FYI — the word that we use all the time (at least ’round here) maybe should be the word “newfangled”:

new?fan?gled (n?’f??ng’g?ld, ny?’-)
adj.
New and often needlessly novel.
Fond of novelty.

Dictionary definition of newfangled
The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright ? 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

newfangled
adjective
Not the same as what was previously known or done: different, fresh, innovative, inventive, new, novel, original, unfamiliar, unprecedented.

Thesaurus synonyms of newfangled
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage? Dictionary Copyright ? 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

The adjective newfangled has one meaning:
Meaning #1: of a new (often outrageous) kind or fashion
Synonym: new

WordNet information about newfangledWordNet 1.7.1 Copyright ? 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

Learned a new word? Well, here is another one:

old?fan?gled or old-fan?gled (??ld’f??ng’g?ld)
adj. Informal.
Old-fashioned.

Dictionary definition of oldfangled
The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright ? 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

All of the above was caused by my efforts to defrost my upright freezer yesterday. At least I started the process yesterday. Actually, because my freezer does not have an automatic defrosting system, it really cannot be called a new “fandangled” freezer. I just called it that because I had trouble defrosting it manually.

You know, it will defrost a whole lot faster if you turn the thing “Off” first! That’s why my defrosting job that started yesterday afternoon just got finished THIS afternoon. No, my hair is not blonde!

Look at it this way, you got a chuckle “on me” and learned a couple of new words, perhaps. Meanwhile, my freezer is humming away — and I’ve got to go open the box that holds my “newfangled” printer from Dell — it copies, faxes, scans, and . . . oh yes, prints. Wondering if it defrosts automatically . . . .