I forgot to acknowledge that my feeble “kayak” pun above was swiped/modified from the classical version created by the late Frank Muir on MY WORD. Belated credit (or, possibly, blame, depending on how one feels about puns) where it is due:
Also there is an expression “noodling around” or “just noodling”, I think most commonly in a musical context — but applied to writing as well, as a theme in the brilliant shaped-typing novel “Double or Nothing” by Raymond Federman, which I discussed at some length in CIDU comments recently.
Lexico.com [my now favorite online dictionary resource — partnership of Oxford and … Dictionary.com??] has the musical sense for ‘noodling’ —
Definition of noodling in English:
noodling
Pronunciation /ˈno͞od(ə)liNG/ /ˈnud(ə)lɪŋ/
NOUN
informal The action of improvising or playing casually on a musical instrument.
More example sentences
‘ambient synthesizer noodling’
According to various online sources, canoodle can have American, German, Scandinavian or English roots. It’s often listed as “obscure” in origin.
I recall hearing the term originating with a local park along the Charles River in the Boston area where one could rent a canoe and “canoodle” with your sweetheart. Later on I discovered that to be a folk etymology.
Chak, wait, how can you love the comic if you don’t get the title? If you don’t get the Oy, isn’t it just a boring drawing of a guy eating pasta in a canoe?
Comics I Don't Understand 
Love the comic, don’t get the title.
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Noodling is a gross fishing technique.
Noodling, noodle can, canoeing, canoodling?
Reminds me of Lewis Caroll.
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Canoodling is another term for “making out”. In this case, it’s a guy slurping noodles in a canoe.
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Thanks, I’d never encountered that word before. Probably has an interesting origin.
Now, this is a lol, as well.
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So, you CAN have your kayak, and eat out too?
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Nice — we have the canoe, and the noodles, just not the canoodling itself!
Hey, the squirrel didn’t have anything to add?
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Here are some suggestions for that f*&$#* squirrel:
It’s nice to get away from the ziti!
Maybe I’ll go fishing in an hour orzo!
Up a creek without a pasta-le!
Mac and trees!
Lake-sagna!
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I forgot to acknowledge that my feeble “kayak” pun above was swiped/modified from the classical version created by the late Frank Muir on MY WORD. Belated credit (or, possibly, blame, depending on how one feels about puns) where it is due:
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/you-cant-have-your-cake-and-eat-it.html
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The French saying is about butter and the money for butter: ‘vouloir le beurre et l’argent du beurre’.
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Also there is an expression “noodling around” or “just noodling”, I think most commonly in a musical context — but applied to writing as well, as a theme in the brilliant shaped-typing novel “Double or Nothing” by Raymond Federman, which I discussed at some length in CIDU comments recently.
Lexico.com [my now favorite online dictionary resource — partnership of Oxford and … Dictionary.com??] has the musical sense for ‘noodling’ —
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/noodling
Definition of noodling in English:
noodling
Pronunciation /ˈno͞od(ə)liNG/ /ˈnud(ə)lɪŋ/
NOUN
informal
The action of improvising or playing casually on a musical instrument.
More example sentences
‘ambient synthesizer noodling’
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Mitch,
Thanks for lexico.com. I just added it to my list of search engines.
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According to various online sources, canoodle can have American, German, Scandinavian or English roots. It’s often listed as “obscure” in origin.
I recall hearing the term originating with a local park along the Charles River in the Boston area where one could rent a canoe and “canoodle” with your sweetheart. Later on I discovered that to be a folk etymology.
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Kudos to Shrug, even if you did borrow it.
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Chak, wait, how can you love the comic if you don’t get the title? If you don’t get the Oy, isn’t it just a boring drawing of a guy eating pasta in a canoe?
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Oops, I left that comment on the wrong comic.
Sometimes I really miss my brain.
I remembered where I first heard the term ‘caniodling’: on a BBC show called ‘As Time Goes By’.
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*canoodling* I can spell, I just can’t see what I typed.
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Speaking of that book about noodling around (Double or Nothing by Raymond Federman), I ran across posts by a fan on twitter.
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