5 AUGUST 1989, Page 23

Naff origins

Sir: Peregrine Worsthorne (Diary, 22 July) would like to know where the word `naff originated. The entry in Jonathon Green's The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (Pan Books, 1984 ed.) reads:

NAFF a. in poor taste, unappealing, un- fashionable; orig. prostitutes' use: nothing 'The Comic Strip Presents', Channel-4 TV, 1983.

The clue seems to be the word 'nothing'. `Naff', I imagine, is merely short for `naffing', which is the cockney rendering of the word 'nothing'.

R. Rubin

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