Last week the world witnessed what may become the most famous canoodle in modern history. During a Coldplay concert in Boston, the stadium kiss-cam landed on two executives—Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot—caught in what was described as a canoodle, the clip went viral worldwide.
Unfortunately for the romantic couple, Mr Byron, the now ex-CEO of a New York tech firm and Ms Cabot, the senior HR director from the same company, Mr Byron has a wife who was not aware of the romance. The pair ducked for cover when they realised that their image was being broadcast to the crowd but the action just made them look guilty.
Canoodle is mischievous
Canoodle is one of those words that hints at mischief. Its ultimate origin is not entirely clear but the Online Etymological Dictionary suggests but it emerged in England and in the US in the early to mid nineteenth century. In England in the 1830s it meant to cheat or to deceive but by the 1860s it meant to fondly caress. In the US it was used in New Orleans by 1843 as a noun meaning hanky-panky, illicit procedure. After 1848 it is being used with a sense of political manipulation and back-room deals.
An early UK example comes from 1859, when a British journalist described a sly kiss and a squeeze as something Americans were particularly good at—he claimed they had a fondness for canoodling. Word historians J.S. Farmer and W.E. Henley defined it in 1890 as to fondle; bill and coo; indulge in endearments.
Where the word actually comes from before this is uncertain. One school of thought suggests a Germanic origin—possibly from knuddeln, meaning to cuddle. H.L. Mencken, journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and champion of American English, thought canoodle was an invention from the Mississippi-Missouri basin—a region with many German immigrants. He suggested that the word might have been a playful, mildly mocking invention arising from a frontier witty euphemism.
Not a cuddle or an embrace
Back to Boston and the Coldplay concert. The couples’ guilty response meant that their intimacy could not be described as an embrace, nor could it be a mere cuddle—it just was crying out to be called a canoodle. If it had been a shy couple turning away it would have been romantic but the rapid quick duck for cover gave the game away—canoodle with its hint of mischief, deception and illicitness is the only choice to describe it.
The modern canoodle
Canoodle can only be used with a knowing smile. It’s the sort of word we use when we want to imply a little bit of illicitness. Its use in this case has added a hint of absurdity to the exposure of a work affair which will leave many of the people affected far from amused.