The
made-up word "damfino" is a
running joke in several of the movies of great
silent film comedian Buster Keaton. It's the set-up for a
gag that revolves around the fact that it can be read either as "
Damn-fine-o" or "
Damn-if-I-know".
In the fantastic short The Boat (1921), Buster's little boat is named the "Damfino" (with the former meaning implicit). Buster and his family endure a series of misadventures which culminate in a midnight shipwreck in high seas. When the family has finally washed ashore, Buster's wife asks hopelessly, "Where are we?" To end the film, Buster turns to the camera, shrugs, and mouths "Damfino."
A boat named "Damfino" also appears in the feature College (1925). It's a crew shell which Buster destroys by jumping into, and through, it (feet first, as I recall).
The Damfinos is now the name of the International Buster Keaton Society, founded in 1992.
According to www.busterkeaton.com, the web page of the Damfinos, the name originated with a boat Buster saw at the Muskegon, MI lake house of Joe Roberts (an actor Buster had known since childhood, and who would come to Hollywood and play the big mustachioed bad guy in many Keaton films).