waff

(noun) (a) A release of odious gas into the air from the lower bowel of a human being, irrespective of whether or not audible noise accompanied it.
(b) The gas itself, or its odour.

This word had cult popularity among children of school age in particular from the mid-1980s onwards in some parts of England, UK, including Shropshire. How widely used it is today is unknown by this author.

It was frequently used in a comical context to make fun of the smell or the person who had produced it.

In one subculture, waffs were (for reasons of comic absurdity) classified according to their odour by various alternative epithets such as 'meaty', 'fruity', 'milky', 'silent but deadly' and 'upset stomach'. The first of these was particular popular, leading sometimes to comments such as 'It's so meaty in here', even without the use of the word 'waff', though this was the understood meaning.

The etymology of this word has been speculatively attributed by some of those who remember using it to a corruption of the pre-existing word 'waft', as in a 'waft of gas'.

A variant spelling which was also popular was whaff. Both spellings were pronounced to rhyme with the name of the vehicle manufacturer 'DAF'.

1) Someone's just done an enormous meaty waff!
2) I just went next-door and found someone had laid a huge waff in the room!
3) Pwoar! What a whaff! (a particularly oft-used expression of disgust at the smell of one)

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