Pumpernickel means "devil's fart", a definition accepted by the publisher Random House, and by some English language dictionaries, including the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The American Heritage Dictionary adds "so named from being hard to digest". A variant of this explanation is also given by the German etymological dictionary "Kluge" that says the word is older than its usage for the particular type of bread, and may have been used as a mocking name for a person of unrefined manners ("farting Nick") first. The change of meaning may have been caused by its use as a mocking expression for the (in the eyes
The Scarlet Pumpernickel through the resulting flood, an erupting volcano, and skyrocketing food prices (notably kreplach), to which J.L. asks, "Is that all?" At his wit's end, Daffy shoots through his hat in exhaustion, as if representing the Scarlet Pumpernickel committing suicide, commenting, "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here". This "Looney Tunes" short has an unusually large cast of "star" characters (which, in addition to Daffy, Porky, and Sylvester, includes Elmer Fudd, Henery Hawk and Mama Bear from Jones' "Three Bears" series). It was also the only cartoon directed by Chuck Jones in which he