Why Do We Call An Enthusiastic Amateur a "Buff"?
Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2009
by Kashif Raza
Poitning North Solutions
The word "buff" has a lot of meanings. It could refer to a light yellow color, a soft cloth that is used to polish a surface, or someone who has really big muscles.
Another common usage of the word buff is to call enthusiastic amateurs who have a strong and special interest in fields other than his or her profession or specialty.
The word buff is said to have been first used in about two hundred years ago.
During that era, was still a growing city and did not have the towering steel and stone buildings that can be seen at present. Before, the main materials for their buildings consist of wood and brick, and oftentimes old buildings caught fire. At that time, didn't have a well-organized and orderly fire department. The nearest men to the sound of the fire bell, regardless of what they were doing at the time they heard the bell, hurried in order to fight the fire.
As time progressed, the fire department became more organized, and the volunteers were duly trained to fight fires. Although they became trained firefighters, they still kept their regular jobs, as they were not paid to fight fire. However, once they hear a fire bell ring, they stop what they are doing and attend to the fire immediately.
During cold weather, a lot of these volunteer firefighters made themselves warm and dry by wearing coats made of buffalo skin. Oftentimes, when a fire alarm rings, other men still continued to rush out and help fight the fire. They also wore buffalo skin coats. With the passage of time, any man who hurried to put out a fire was called a fire buff since they were wearing buffalo skin coats.
At that time, it was fine and even appreciated. But later on, fire departments became more organized, and firefighters were no longer volunteers but professionals paid to do their job.
However, this does not stop the fire buffs from rushing to the scene and trying to help put out the fire themselves. This can sometimes prevent the real firemen from actually doing their jobs, and can get in the way of the firefighters.
Because of such, some firemen used the word "buff" as a derogatory remark to describe the amateur firefighters who somehow got in the way of doing their actual jobs. That is how the word "buff" came to be.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Kashif, welcome to searchwarp. Thanks for sharing this trivia, I learned something new. Please share more with us. There are many like me who love this kind of stuff. Very well-written. Blessings, Teresa
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