MacGuffin

English 2008 March 30 Alternative forms en McGuffin Etymology Used by Alfred Hitchcock, as an arbitrary Scottish surname. The actual name comes from Ulster: en Mc- son of dubh black ga Fionn ga fairheaded.Mag DHUIBHFINN Irish Names and Surnames http://www.libraryireland.com/names/mag/mag-dhuibhfinn.php See also Wikipedia's MacGuffin#History_and_use MacGuffin § History and use. Pronunciation en /məˈɡʌf.ɪn/ RP,US en en-us-MacGuffin.ogg US Noun en narratology A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline. en 2000 w:Steven Spielberg; Lester D. Friedman; Brent Notbohm Steven Spielberg: Interviews " But we wound up realizing you really can't top yourself. You just tell a different story and hope the new MacGuffin is as compelling as the last MacGuffin." en 2005 Thomas M. Disch On SF A paleontologist lately returned from an expedition to Wyoming, where he unearthed the bones of the first brontosaurus (and supplied guns to the Indians on behalf of the Foreign Office, which had succeeded in its policy of balkanizing the North American continent) Mallory comes into possession of the MacGuffin during a Derby Day encounter with Byron's daughter (and Babbage's protégée) Ada. Thereafter he is hounded by a whole rogue's gallery of villains bent on reclaiming the MacGuffin. See also en red herring en Chekhov's gun en MacGuffinite Proper noun s en. Statistics According to data collected by Forebears in 2014, MacGuffin is the 736,413st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 13 individuals. Less common than the form en McGuffin. References Further reading MacGuffin en Fiction Plot devices