Ferhoodle must be one of those words that became verboten during WWII. I watch a lot of British drams on PBS set in WWII (I feel like I’ve experienced the London blitz first hand) and even the music of Bach was frowned upon in England during that period (that German music, it was called). Of course I still had to struggle through it here.
In fact, where I live now (Wisconsin) school was still taught 1/2 a day in German until WWII. I have farmer neighbors who still speak with German accents even though their forebears immigrated here in 1832. I knew one lady who (after she was moved to a retirement home in her 90s) was encouraged by her daughter in law to get to know some of the ladies living their who came from a neighboring village because they also spoke German. “No, she sniffed. They sspeak low German, and I speak high German.)
Do you remember the old song about John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt? It has a line about being xxx, and xxx, and a little bit of Dutch. I was a tiny child and I asked my mother what I was, and she answered English, Irish, and little bit of Dutch. She then she whispered, “It’s really a little bit of German, but don’t tell anybody”.
Actually, she was confused, it was Swedish, but she didn’t know it then. It took Ancestry to uncover my Swedish line. She never acknowledged her strong line of Swedish (and Dutch) ancestors. She died at 101. LOL
I, personally, was aware only of the Swabian verb "hudeln" in the meaning "to be rushed, to act in a rushed manner."
Nur net hudele!"
"Don't rush!" (I.e.: Calm down, take it easy!)
To be honest, I see no etymological relation to the verb "verhudeln" in the sense of "to ruin something, to reduce something to tatters."
Regards,