What does the suffix “‑fu” mean?
Can anyone tell me what the suffix “‑fu” stands for in the following sentence?
If you want to take advantage of some other Spring-fu, like some of its aspect-oriented features, then you’ll need to use this heavy-handed, direct object management technique.
It stands for "(advanced) skill". There are lots of similar constructions, such as "Script-Fu", "Google-Fu", and so on. Wiktionary has an article on the suffix -fu:
Etymology
From kung-fuSuffix
1. (slang) Expertise; mastery.
- My google-fu is weak!
- Aragorn uses Ranger-fu to figure out that Sam and Frodo have taken a boat.
Like many idioms with little historical depth, the use of -fu has more to do with cultural themes than grammatical construction and meaning. The pseudo-word "Spring-fu" is a construction meant to allegorically refer to kung-fu that endows the scripting language Spring with the mysticism and complexity of a martial art --- something that requires dedication to master and has hidden benefits ("really cool ju-ju") if mastered. Consequently, the current definitions of the suffix -fu are inadequate to describe the cultural use of the suffix in this evolving context.