“Does anyone in real life use the word “canoodling?” I’ve never, ever heard it spoken.”
Is it even a word and if it is what is it?
I think the tabloids made it up. I can think of a lot of other words to describe these goings-on.
ca•noo•dle
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), ca•noo•dled, ca•noo•dling. Slang.
caress, fondle, or pet amorously.
canoodle
by 1850s, “to indulge in caresses and fondling endearments” [OED], U.S. slang, of uncertain origin. The earliest known source is 1859, British, identifying the word as American.