engineering

Furphy

Furphy is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Furphy rather than just read about it. In short: The word "furphy" is Australian slang for an erroneous or improbable story that is claimed to be factual. Furphies are supposedly heard from reputable sources, sometimes second-hand or third-hand, and widely believed until discounted.

Key takeaways

Furphy belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Furphy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Furphy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The word "furphy" is Australian slang for an erroneous or improbable story that is claimed to be factual. Furphies are supposedly heard from reputable sources, sometimes second-hand or third-hand, and widely believed until discounted.

Origins In recent years, the word has been said to derive from water carts designed and made by a company established by John Furphy of J. Furphy & Sons of Shepparton, Victoria. The steel and cast iron tanks were first made in the 1880s and were used on farms and by stock agents. Many Furphy water carts were used to take water to Australian Army personnel during World War I in Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Because these water carts were placed where people gathered and talked, the story goes, suspiciously just like an American office watercooler, a "furphy" became the name for the sort of chatter that circulated by the Furphy tank (see the similar meaning and derivation of the term scuttlebutt). However, this story is itself most likely a furphy. In his book Memories of a Signaller, Harold Hinckfuss wrote of the "furphies" or rumours of pending movements of troops, while awaiting transfer to the French lines from Egypt. His account claims that the association of "furphy" with the latrines is not due to any association of toilets with drinking water beside a cart, but because a "furphy" was a term for a fart: "Every day in the tent someone would come up with a 'furphy' that he had heard whilst down at the latrines. That is why the different stories were called furphies ('furphy' was the term used for a fart)." H. G. Hartnett, used and credited as a source by official historian C. E. W. Bean in his 12 volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (e.g. mentioned by name in vol. IV, p. 836), is more precise and detailed about the origin of the term, which

contradicts the much later "watercart" story, corresponds with Australian culture rather than American, and corresponds with Hinckfuss's recollection of its alternate meaning: It is doubtful if there ever was a more fruitful field for rumours than the army. No one knew where they emanated from. Scanty scraps of information, often reported to have been told initially in the strictest confidence, were distorted, magnified, losing nothing in the constant retelling; instead, they often branched out into new avenues as they were passed on. Although generally treated with scant respect, these tales —"Latrine Wireless News" and "Furphies"— quite often did contain an element of truth. Those repeating them apologetically indicated that what they told was "according to rumour". The term "Furphy" is said to have originated in the Broadmeadows Camp, Melbourne, in 1914. The garbage and refuse of the camp was collected in carts, somewhat resembling present day municipal council garbage trucks, each of which had the maker's name, "FURPHY", painted in large letters on both sides of the vehicle. Rumours in the camp were passed on direct from a "Furphy" and, in due course, "Furphy" was adopted as the "official" title for all rumours right throughout the AIF.(emphasis added)

As he then continues: "It was, therefore, not surprising that the 'Latrine Wireless' in the Old Belgian Cavalry Barracks spread the news around that the 2nd Battalion was going right back for another long spell. At the time most of us did not take it seriously. Nevertheless, the battalion did march out of Ypres next morning, 11 November [1917]". Hartnett wrote in a bowdlerised fashion suitable for polite company of the 1920s, so his otherwise-tautological separate specification of "refuse" was actually the then-common euphemism for night soil, further connecting the Furphy carts to (the odour of) the latrines.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Furphy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Furphy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Furphy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Furphy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Furphy

In research: Furphy appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Furphy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Furphy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Australian Army, Australian brands, Australian slang, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Furphy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Furphy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Furphy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Furphy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Furphy in simple terms?

Why does Furphy matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Furphy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Furphy.