This is a Journal entry by Old Goat
Duff entry
Old Goat Posted Dec 1, 2007
Hi, Buffie, I expected you to be the one to ask this question!
I think you will come across the same word in Treasure Island but I use it here in my subject line in a completely different way. In the book it is used to refer to a boiled pudding and this meaning continues today in Britain, the Canadian Maritimes and the New England States of the USA. Its origin is in a Northern English form of 'dough'.
Here I use it as a British slang adjective. I posted the Treasure Island dictionary and all was well - but not for long. It disappeared and my journal was presented as empty. To change this and in order to create an avenue via which to find my missing dictionary I wanted to create another journal entry yet title it to identify it as an entry of little or no interest in itself. 'Duff' in this sense means worthless, counterfeit; useless, broken.
For completeness, a quick reference to other surviving meanings:
N Amer. (noun) the decaying vegetable matter, such as leaves or bits of wood, which covers the forest ground.
N Amer. & Scot. (noun) buttocks.
Brit. slang (transitive verb) 1 - bungle or mis-hit a shot or ball, especially in golf. 2 - (followed by 'up' as in 'duff up') beat or thrash a person. 
OG
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