how fluffy a pagan are you? & etymology "fluffy pagan"
Did the quiz!
You are a Scholar. You could be Wiccan or Pagan,
Reconstructionist or Gnostic, Jew or Muslim.
But whatever your path, it's pretty clear
you're by no means a Fluffy Bunny. Stop taking
silly quizzes and go out there and educate
people, would ya??
How fluffy a Pagan are you?
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BTW, can anyone find a reference to "fluffy pagans" dating from before 1987/8? H and I started using the phrase a lot in about '88- the original derivation was from our use of the term "fluffy bunny rabbit christians", being those who had a particular type of fluffy bunny (or other cute beastie) poster with a bible verse displayed prominently on their room walls at college. The implication was they were strong in Christian culture, "niceness" and intent, but maybe not so sharp on theology and scripture. This was soon abbreviated to fluffy christian, or fluffies.
By 1988 we were using it to describe pagans, and obviously as "fluffy pagan", and it caught on in Cheltenham. It was not actually perjorative or derogatory - we used it to define those whose pagan beliefs included a vague hippy sort of universal love and acceptance, and who had a weakness for fairies, unicorns and crystals, as opposed to the "let's get some authentic scholarship about Dark Age religion done" (and omit the bits we don't like) brigade. There was no particular value judgment involved - to this day I kind of like fluffy pagans in some ways. :) We always used "fluffy pagan" to distinguish it from "fluffy christian".
It may be we simply unknowingly arrived at the term from a different route as others, or had unconsciously picked it up from something we read, but the term appears in my diary for October 1988 in reference to pagans.
I was amused to find the term referenced in wikipedia, but with no etymology, but preserving the original bunny association. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluffy_bunny
I strongly suspect others had used the term the way we did before us - but if so, how did they come up with it? There is nothing intrinsically rabbitish about bouncy happy eclectic pagans?
So anyone have a better claim to the etymology of the term? Or was my most lasting contribution to the pagan scene a totally accidental descriptive phrase? Anyone know better, and have an earlier written mention?
cj x
You are a Scholar. You could be Wiccan or Pagan,
Reconstructionist or Gnostic, Jew or Muslim.
But whatever your path, it's pretty clear
you're by no means a Fluffy Bunny. Stop taking
silly quizzes and go out there and educate
people, would ya??
How fluffy a Pagan are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
BTW, can anyone find a reference to "fluffy pagans" dating from before 1987/8? H and I started using the phrase a lot in about '88- the original derivation was from our use of the term "fluffy bunny rabbit christians", being those who had a particular type of fluffy bunny (or other cute beastie) poster with a bible verse displayed prominently on their room walls at college. The implication was they were strong in Christian culture, "niceness" and intent, but maybe not so sharp on theology and scripture. This was soon abbreviated to fluffy christian, or fluffies.
By 1988 we were using it to describe pagans, and obviously as "fluffy pagan", and it caught on in Cheltenham. It was not actually perjorative or derogatory - we used it to define those whose pagan beliefs included a vague hippy sort of universal love and acceptance, and who had a weakness for fairies, unicorns and crystals, as opposed to the "let's get some authentic scholarship about Dark Age religion done" (and omit the bits we don't like) brigade. There was no particular value judgment involved - to this day I kind of like fluffy pagans in some ways. :) We always used "fluffy pagan" to distinguish it from "fluffy christian".
It may be we simply unknowingly arrived at the term from a different route as others, or had unconsciously picked it up from something we read, but the term appears in my diary for October 1988 in reference to pagans.
I was amused to find the term referenced in wikipedia, but with no etymology, but preserving the original bunny association. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluffy_bunny
I strongly suspect others had used the term the way we did before us - but if so, how did they come up with it? There is nothing intrinsically rabbitish about bouncy happy eclectic pagans?
So anyone have a better claim to the etymology of the term? Or was my most lasting contribution to the pagan scene a totally accidental descriptive phrase? Anyone know better, and have an earlier written mention?
cj x