Missed this thread until now - I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't know what this quote was about. Saw a report in a Time magazine that someone leant me and had to work it out by context.

Re: Azizi's find ...

"The Welsh name for the Devil, Bwcibo, entered English centuries ago. What word did it evolve into? Answer: bugaboo"

Yes. The actual word is "bwgan" and isn't 'the devil' but rather an evil spirit/fairy, and probably the Foggy Dew (and ilk) reference is a direct derivative. "Puck" in Midsummer's Night Dream is definitely a variation of the word; I've seen an academic paper somewhere that suggests that Shakespeare's granny was from Gwent (SE Wales). And I've also seen an article showing that it is also the root of 'bug' as in a computer 'bug', and 'bug on the line' in telephony. Oh, and did anyone else hear a story as a child about fairy rabbits? They were puccas or pukkas or something, weren't they? Like Harvey, in the film, but small. Always assumed it was the same lineage.

In Welsh, a scarecrow is a 'bwgan brain' (brain=crows, pr. 'brine')

Oh, and Thomas Jefferson was Welsh so the fact that he was "a man of pent up rage and anger and guilty nightmares" was probably more to do with being a morose Welshman, with the lust thing just providing an excuse.

So ... how do I score on Thread Drift? 7, 8 out of 10?

sian