If not for my exposure to some early paperback collections of 1960s-era “Peanuts” comic strips, I may never have encountered the term “fussbudget”.

Because while it may be a word that came up in the Charles Schulz household, it never has in mine. Nor in many others, I’m betting.

What prompted the fusing of “fuss” (the definition-driver in this case) with “budget” to describe an incessantly-peevish personality is beyond me. Despite its turn-of-the-last-century Americanism pedigree, I’d wager this queer little word has a French-grounded origin.