Not long ago, I questioned the real demand for a Kindle in a smartphone world:

I don’t see how the e-book readers can compete, frankly. Why lug around an extra, oversized display screen when you can carry around your library in your pocket? Obviously screen-size is sacrificed, but most people are accustomed to reading off their phone screens by now. If anything, I see the Kindle, [Sony] Reader, et al becoming niche products, for those who can’t do without large-print reading; everyone else will do their e-book reading via iPhone/iTouch. The disruption comes from including the e-book capabilities in the price of the device, versus shelling out a few hundred dollars for a separate reader.

Today, my paper of record validates my view:

“These e-readers that cost a lot of money only do one thing,” said Keishon Tutt, a 37-year-old pharmacist in Texas who buys 10 to 12 books a month to read on her iPhone, from Apple. “I like to have a multifunctional device. I watch movies and listen to my songs.”

Over the last eight months, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a range of smaller companies have released book-reading software for the iPhone and other mobile devices. One out of every five new applications introduced for the iPhone last month was a book, according to Flurry, a research firm that studies mobile trends.

For the record, I’ve yet to consume any books on my iPod Touch. I do read plenty of Web content on it, though. And write a fair amount via the virtual keyboard. I’m obviously not hankering for an e-ink screen…

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.