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Your “bumbling” is confirmed. I’d think twice about arguing with The Teacher and the Madman.
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Might be an idea to head over to jtrforums, where Gary Barnett has been posting examples of 'bumbling' being used in the 1880s, by people who evidently didn't care whether it was 'obsolete' or not.
One example was a 'bumbling' purveyor... in Paradise Street, Liverpool, in November 1888.
It's a pointless discussion, however, when we don't know what the diary author understood 'bumbling' to mean when they attached it to 'buffoon' just for jolly, because they could.
No rule that said they had to wait until these two words were used together to form a popular catchphrase. If that chap had needed to wait for 'bumbling purveyor' to become a catchphrase, he'd still be waiting.
Love,
Caz
X"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious." Peter Ustinov
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