September 18, 2013 by Angela Tung - 5 Comments

A Brief History of Newspaper Lingo

The first issue of The New York Times was published on this day in 1851, and to celebrate we’re taking look at a brief history of some of our favorite newspaper words and slang.

Before newspapers, there were government bulletins. The Acta Diurna or Daily Acts of ancient Rome were carved in metal or stone and posted in public places. In ancient China, tipao, news sheets produced by the government, were “handwritten on silk and read by government officials.”

In 16th century Venice, a monthly notice was published and sold for one gazeta, a small copper coin, which may be where we get gazette, another word for newspaper.

However, gazeta also means “little magpie,” so it’s unclear if we get the word from the paper’s “price or its association with the bird (typical of false chatter),” says the Online Etymology Dictionary. What we do know is that gazette predates the word newspaper by about 60 years.

Workers at a printing press

By 1649, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), newspapers, journals, and periodicals were collectively referred to as the press. This of course comes from printing press, which was invented in the 15th century and quickly gained popularity in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. By the late 1860s press came to refer to journalists in general, and to journalistic coverage by 1908: “Mr. Leaf. . .has not had a good press lately.”

Both newsman and journalist came about in the late 17th century, says the OED. By then what’s considered the first American newspaper was published in Boston, although “only one edition was published before the paper was suppressed by the colonial officials.” A few years later, a weekly called The Boston News-Letter “became the first continuously published newspaper in the colonies.”

By 1734, you could insult a newspaper by calling it a rag. Know where the bodies are buried? You could make a living as a death-hunter, “one who furnishes a newspaper with reports of deaths,” says the OED.

Reporters weren’t called reporters until about 1776, as per the OED. By 1810, if you were a writer for hire, you might be called a hack, and in the 1870s, a story you got before a competitor was called a beat or scoop.

By the late 19th century, competition betweens papers was fierce. Some resorted to keyhole journalism, says the OED, with “allusion to the action of eavesdropping or spying through a keyhole.”

The Yellow Kid

The term yellow journalism was coined around 1898 during the peak of the “circulation battles” between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. Yellow journalism is “journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers,” and comes from “the use of yellow ink in printing ‘Yellow Kid,’ a cartoon strip in the New York World.”

Pulitzer and Heart’s sensationalistic exploits were even blamed for the United States’ entry into the Spanish-American War, although historians have noted that “yellow journalism was largely confined to New York City, and that newspapers in the rest of the country did not follow their lead.”

In 1901, the term tabloid was being used to describe newspapers that gave stories in condensed form, “usually with illustrated, often sensational material.” The word tabloid was originally a trademark referring to a “small tablet of medicine,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary, and eventually came to refer to “a compressed form or dose of anything.”

Lead meaning the “introductory portion of a news story” is from around 1912. The spelling didn’t change to lede until 1965, perhaps “to distinguish this sense from other possible meanings of the written word,” such as the molten lead “used in typesetting machines.” The term bury the lead, beginning a story with secondary information and revealing the important points later, is from 1977, says the OED.

Lonely-hearts referring to lonely-hearts columns originated in the early 1930s while agony aunt, a British English term for the writer of an advice column, is from 1974. In 1950, if you wrote a story of “exaggerating praise,” you’d be writing a puff piece. Paparazzi, photographers who “pursue celebrities and attempt to obtain candid photographs,” comes from the “surname of the freelance photographer in Federico Fellini’s 1959 film ‘La Dolce Vita.’”

Tabloid Rack

Supermarket tabloids arose in the 1960s, says Vanity Fair. Neighborhood newsstands and family-owned shops were closing as supermarket chains opened up. Generoso Pope, Jr., the creator of The National Enquirer, perhaps the most famous (or infamous) supermarket tabloid, “understood that the only way tabloids could thrive as their urban habitat declined was by being sold in supermarkets.”

We’re uncertain as to when the term supermarket tabloid originated exactly. The earliest citation we found was from 1980, and Google Ngrams shows its usage beginning around the same time. However, if anyone can antedate us, please do.

In 1971 journalist Hunter S. Thompson coined the term gonzo journalism, a kind of experimental journalism in “which facts are deemed to be less important than perceived underlying truth (especially where deliberately altered consciousness is involved).”

Such journalism could be full of factoids, which contrary to popular belief aren’t bite-sized facts but “unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition.” The word was coined by writer Norman Mailer in 1973.

Gotcha journalism, “journalism that seeks only to catch public figures in embarrassing or scandalous situations,” says Word Spy. The earliest citation is from 1988. (The gotcharazzi, in case you were wondering, are paparazzi who may say “Gotcha!” when photographing someone in an embarrassing situation.)

The charticle, an article that mainly consists of a chart or graph, is from 1996, while listicle, an article consisting of a list, is newer, from 2003 and apparently coined by a Gawker writer, according to researcher Barry Popik.

Red-top, a tabloid newspaper in the UK, is from 1996, and refers to the red banners often used by such papers. A marmalade dropper is “highly stunning information” that would, presumably, cause one to drop one’s marmalade. Word Spy says the term “has appeared almost exclusively in British newspapers and magazines” and originated around 1995.

A dead donkey is “a news item of no real significance, usually of whimsical or sentimental nature, placed at the end of a news bulletin or in a newspaper as filler.” Drop the Dead Donkey was a 1990s British television comedy set in a TV news company. It seems the term dead donkey comes from the title of the show.

Finally, churnalism, journalism that uses “ready-made press release material copied wholesale,” is from 2001, says Word Spy.

What are some of your favorite journalistic slang terms?

[Photo: “New York Times Building, NYC,” CC BY 2.0 by Alexander Torrenegra]
[Photo: “Workers at a printing press,” Public Domain]
[Photo: “The Yellow Kid,” Public Domain]
[Photo: “Tabloid Rack,” CC BY 2.0 by Paulo Ordoveza]

September 12, 2013 by Angela Tung

Fo Shizzle My Chizzle: Our Favorite -izzle Words

Snoop Dogg made a whole language out of it — adding –izzle to just about anything. Of course there are “real” –izzle words, like sizzle, swizzle, and grizzle, but what about those you may not have heard of? Here we take a look at six of our favorites.

mizzle

Today’s word of the day means to drizzle or “rain in very fine drops,” as well as to succumb, become tipsy, confuse, and to disappear suddenly. The rain meaning is the oldest, from the 15th century, says the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and may come from the Middle Dutch misel, “drizzling rain.”

The meaning “to confuse” is from the 16th century and may come from mizmaze, a labyrinth or maze. Mizzle gained its “disappear suddenly” meaning in the 1770s. The OED says it might come from misli, a word from Shelta meaning “to go,” or that misli might come from mizzle. In other words, we don’t know.

By the way, to mizzle one’s dick is a nautical phrase that means “to miss one’s passage.”

pizzle

A pizzle refers to “the penis of an animal, especially a bull” or “a whip made from a bull’s penis.” This is a 15th century word that is now chiefly used in Australia and New Zealand, according to the OED, and ultimately comes from the Old Dutch pisa, “sinew, string, fibre.”

In the early 1900s, the word also became slang for a man’s penis.

rumswizzle

This awesome word is “a cloth made in Ireland from pure wool undyed, and valuable because of its power of repelling moisture.”

Unfortunately its origin is unknown. It may come from the cant meaning of rum, “good or fine,” and swizzle could be a play on frieze, “a thick and warm woolen cloth used for rough outer garments since the fourteenth century,” although that could be a stretch.

Predictably the word has been appropriated as the name of a drink.

frizzle

The earliest meaning of frizzle is “to curl or crisp, as hair,” from which comes the newer and more common frizz. Frizzle also refers to “a ribbed steel plate forming part of a gunlock, to receive the blow of the hammer,” and “to fry (something) [like bacon] until crisp and curled.”

The word could be a blend of fry and sizzle, and may be related to Old Frisian frisle, “head of the hair, lock of hair.”

crizzle

Crizzle means “to become wrinkled or rough on the surface, as glass, the skin, etc.,” as well as “a roughness on the surface of glass which clouds its transparency.” The origin isn’t certain but the OED says it may be a diminutive of craze. The French crisser means to crunch or scrunch.

twizzle

To twizzle means to roll and twist, and may be a blend of twist and twistle. In case you were wondering, the word came first, then the candy: the OED’s earliest citation of twizzle is from 1825 while Twizzlers candy came out in 1845.

Want more -izzle? Gizoogle that shizzle.

[Photo: “a walk in to the woods,” CC BY 2.0 by Vinoth Chandar]
[Photo: “Bacon,” CC BY 2.0 by cookbookman17]

September 3, 2013 by Angela Tung - 1 Comment

English Words with Welsh Origins

Happy National Welsh Rarebit Day!

In case you don’t know, rarebit, a corruption of the word rabbit, isn’t rabbit at all but “cheese melted with ale or beer served over toast.” If bunnies have nothing to do with this dish, how did it get its name?

The word Welsh was “used disparagingly of inferior or substitute things,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary. So cheese and bread is presumably a poor substitution for rabbit meat. Welsh was also used disparagingly to mean to swindle or cheat someone, and is now considered offensive.

Thinking about Welsh words inspired us to find some common English words with origins in Wales.

balderdash

“May only virgins wear white at their wedding? Baldridge says ‘Balderdash!’ ‘When it’s a first wedding, a bride has the right to pull out all the stops – even if she’s been living with her man for years and just left his bed that morning.'”

Maureen Early, “Times Change – From Doggie Bags to Living in Sin,” Ottawa Citizen, December 28, 1978

There are a few theories behind the origin of the word balderdash, meaning nonsense, one of which is that it comes from the Welsh baldordd, “idle noisy talk, chatter.”

What’s more certain is that the original definition was “a jumbled mixture of frothy liquors,” thought to refer to “the froth and foam made by barbers in dashing their balls backward and forward in hot water,” as per the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

We honestly don’t know if balls here mean testicles or some olden day barber paraphernalia. If anyone knows, please enlighten us in the comments.

cardigan

“An army of 200 knitters from Cardigan have created a giant cardigan to mark the town’s 900th anniversary.”

“Cardigan’s close-knit community celebrates 900 years,” BBC, November 25, 2010

The cardigan sweater was named for the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell. The Earl, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, “set the style, in one account supposedly wearing such a jacket while leading the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.”

Cardigan is an anglicization of the Welsh Ceredigion, “Ceredig’s land.” Ceredig was an ancient Welsh king.

corgi

“Poppy, Anna, Alice, Oliver and Megan — five corgis who appeared alongside Helen Mirren in the film about Queen Elizabeth II — were named best historical hounds during a ceremony at London’s South Bank arts center Sunday.”

“Corgi stars from Queen take top Fido honor,” Houston Chronicle, November 2, 2007

It’s not surprising that the corgi, also known as the Welsh corgi, is Welsh in origin. The original Welsh, corci, translates as “dwarf dog.”

Another English word related to the Welsh cor is coracle, “a small rounded boat made of hides stretched over a wicker frame.” It comes from the Welsh corwgl, which may be translated as “small boat.”

flannel

“The new Administration is conservative. It’s buttondown, grey flannel, boardroom and locker-room. It’s businesslike – and dull.”

Anne Woodham, “A City of Grey Flannel Suits, Beaded Dresses,” The Sydney Morning Herald, January 26, 1969

The word flannel may come from the Welsh gwlanen, “woolen cloth.” This may be why Shakespeare used the word to ludicrously “designate a Welshman,” says the OED, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: “I am not able to answer the Welsh flannel.”

Other lesser known definitions of flannel include “a warming drink; hot gin and beer seasoned with nutmeg, sugar, etc.”; “a person of homely or uncouth dress, exterior, or manners”; nonsense or hot air; or insincere flattery or praise. A flannelmouth is an empty talker, a braggart or flatterer.

flummery

“Approaching Sylvia’s position and outlook from this level then, I thrust my way through what I impatiently dismissed as the ‘flummery‘; by which I meant the poetry, the picturesqueness, the sacrosanct glamour surrounding his Reverence and St. Jude’s.”

Alec John Dawson, The Message, 1907

The earliest meaning of flummery was “a sweet gelatinous pudding made by straining boiled oatmeal or flour,” and later also referred to “any of several soft, sweet, bland foods, such as custard,” says the OED. Its figurative meanings, deceptive language or humbug, and “trifles, useless trappings or ornaments,” came about in 1749 and 1879, respectively.

The word comes from the Welsh llymru, “soft jelly from sour oatmeal.”

pendragon

“The treacherous massacre alluded to is said to have been concerted by Gurtheryn (Vortigern), the British pendragon, (leader) who wished to obtain absolute power.”

“Ancient Dagger Found at Stonehenge,” The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, 1833

A pendragon is “a chief leader or a king; a head; a dictator; — a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs.” The word is now mainly known in the “Arthurian Uther Pendragon,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary. Uther Pendragon is the father of King Arthur and mentioned in Old Welsh poems.

The word pendragon is only half-Welsh. While pen comes from the Welsh word for “head,” dragon comes from the Latin draco, “large serpent.”

penguin

“Penguin pairs are known for their elaborate collaboration in raising chicks under harsh Antarctic conditions. But it turns out penguins will take teamwork only so far.”

Hadley Leggett, “Penguin Parents Won’t Chip in to Help Handicapped Spouse,” Wired, July 2, 2009

Penguin is our favorite word with a possibly Welsh origin. Like pendragon, it froms the Welsh pen, “head,” while –guin comes from the Welsh word for “white,” gwyn.

But wait, you might be saying, penguins don’t have white heads. According to World Wide Words, the word might have “first applied to the Great Auk, a flightless seabird now extinct which, like the penguin, used its wings to swim underwater.” It also kind of looks like a penguin. But the Great Auk apparently didn’t have a white head either. However, “it did have a white patch between the bill and the eye and this must have made it very visible.”

[Photo: “welsh rarebit,” CC BY 2.0 by Tristan Kenney]
[Photo: “Outside Corgi,” CC BY 2.0 by Austin White]
[Photo: “Penguins,” CC BY 2.0 by axinar]

August 12, 2013 by Angela Tung

We Like Big Back-Formations

Inspired by our list of the day, Baby Got Back-Formations, which was in turn inspired by the posteriophile, Sir Mix-a-Lot, we’ve gathered here eight common words you might not have known are back-formations, that is, shortened versions of sometimes-obsolete longer words.

berserk

“A young Corapolis man who went berserk at a Christmas party in his own home because the victim early yesterday morning when he decided to shoot it out with police who came to quiet him.”

“Berserk Host Is Wounded In Duel With Cops,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 27, 1950

The word berserk refers to differing degrees of craziness, from “frenetically violent” to “mentally or emotionally upset” to “unrestrained, as with enthusiasm or appetite.”

It’s also a back-formation of berserker, “one of a band of ancient Norse warriors legendary for their savagery and reckless frenzy in battle.” The word was introduced by Scottish author, Sir Walter Scott and comes from the Old Norse ber, “bear,” plus serkr, “shirt,” which together mean “a warrior clothed in bearskin.”

bum

“There are no bums among them. The statements that have been sent out about their being tramps and all that sort of thing are untrue.”

“Claim They Are Not Bums,” The Lewiston Daily Sun, April 21, 1894

The word bum meaning tramp, vagrant, or loafer, has been around since around 1864, says the Online Etymology Dictionary. It comes from bummer, an older word with the same meaning, which in turn ultimately comes from the German bummeln, “go slowly, waste time.”

Bummer meaning an adverse reaction to a drug or something depressing or frustrating is from the late 1960s. Bum meaning “buttocks,” in case you were wondering, originated in the 14th century. The word could be onomatopoeic, says the Oxford English Dictionary, “with the general sense of ‘protuberance, swelling’.”

gab

“That gift of gab for which wives have been blamed, and rarely praised, over the years, is coming in mighty handy to the men candidates in current congressional campaigns.”

Dorothy McCardle, “In Fall Political Campaigns,” The Miami News, October 14, 1954

The origin of gab, meaning to talk a lot, is a kind of back-and-forth formation. It came about in 1786, probably as a shortening of gabble, which has the same meaning. Gabble originated 200 years earlier as a frequentive of gab meaning “to reproach.”

pea

“When we were eager to cook, a ham bone tucked away in the freezer inspired a pot of pea soup.”

“Split Pea Soup with a Twist,” Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2010

The word pea is what’s called a false singular. A false singular is formed when a word that ends in an s or z is wrongly thought to be plural, and an alteration of the word thought to be singular is made. The misinterpreted plural in this case was the Middle English pease.

Pease Porridge Hot is a nursery rhyme that originated around 1760. Pease here is treated as a mass noun.

mesmerize

“Seated across the table, at the police station, the Hindu philosopher gazed dreamily into the eyes of Chief Quigg in an effort to mesmerize him, but the hypnotic influences were sharply interrupted when the chief ordered him to stop.”

“Yogi’s Effort at Hypnotizing,” The Miami News, February 2, 1928

Mesmerize, meaning to enthrall or hypnotize, was formed from mesmerism, which while now refers to fascination in general originally referred to hypnotism, specifically the early 19th century “doctrine that one person can exercise influence over the will and nervous system of another.” Mesmerism was named for its creator, Franz Mesmer, a German physician.

sherry

“The landlord allowed himself to be dissuaded, and, after a glass or two of ale, confessed that sherry was a sickly disagreeable drink, and that he had merely been in the habit of taking it from an idea he had that it was genteel.”

George Borrow, The Romany Rye: A Sequel to ‘Lavengro’

Sherry, a fortified Spanish wine, is another false singular. The original word was the Middle English sherris, which comes from the Spanish (vino de) Xeres, or “wine of Xeres.” Xeres is now commonly known as Jerez.

sidekick

“The best ball player that ever crawled into a uniform was Mike Kelly of Paterson, and you still have with you my old sidekick, Jim McCormick.”

“Paterson Is Cool to Billy Sunday,” The New York Times, April 5, 1915

Sidekick, which originated originated in 1906, was originally side-kicker, as popularized by O. Henry in 1904 short story: “Billy was my side-kicker in New York.” According to World Wide Words, side-kicker comes from an even older term, side-partner.

tee

“At the ‘Tee,’ for the first shot, the ball may be placed on a little heap of sand or earth, about 1/4 inch high, known as the ‘Tee’ also.”

“Some Remarks on Golf,” The Grove: A Monthly Miscellany, November 1891

Another false singular! The golf tee comes from the Scottish teaz. Although the origin of teaz is unknown, the original form was “a little heap of sand.”

waft

“There came in with the man a kind of waft of the sea as he threw off his great-coat and clattered his cutlass in a corner–a fine figure of a man, towering up to the rafters, and his voice held in as though it would be more comfortable to hurl an order in the teeth of a gale.”

John Sillars, The McBrides: A Romance of Arran

The word waft, to cause to go smoothly over water or to float gently, is a back-formation as well. It comes from wafter, an “armed convoy or escort ship.” Wafter ultimately comes from the Middle Low German wachter, “a guard.”

This list is nowhere near complete. Again, check out our list of the day for even more back-formations.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Mike Baird]

June 10, 2013 by Angela Tung - 3 Comments

Eight Surprising Words From Portuguese

The Portuguese got around. Starting in the 15th century, Portuguese sailors and navigators explored Africa, South America, Japan, China, India, and the Middle East. Eventually the country had established the Portuguese Colonial Empire, the “first global empire in history.”

Inevitably Portuguese words worked their way into these cultures and eventually over to English, sometimes in surprising ways. Here are eight words you might not know come from Portuguese.

albino

“Many people in Tanzania — and across Africa, for that matter — believe albinos have magical powers. . . .Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.”

Jeffrey Gettleman, “Albinos, Long Shunned, Face Threat in Tanzania,” The New York Times, June 8, 2008

An albino is “a person or animal lacking normal pigmentation.” Prevalence of albinism is “highest overall in people of sub-Saharan African descent.”

The word is a diminutive of Portuguese albo, meaning “white,” and was used “by Portuguese of white-spotted African[s].” The Portuguese first began exploring the African coast in 1419.

amah

“Graduating smoothly from running errands and doing odd jobs to acting as amah and housekeeper, she became the backbone of the Buck household and later, when Pearl finally left China, of the Thomsons’ too.”

Hilary Spurling, Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth

We would have assumed that the word amah, “a housemaid, especially a wet nurse, in India and the Far East,” came from an East Asian or Indian language. However, it comes from the Portuguese ama, “nurse,” which comes from the Medieval Latin amma, “mother.”

From the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries, the Portuguese had long stopovers in China during their travels to and from Japan.

ayah

“There was Rickon Goold, the ringleader, and four others, and they brought away a little boy who was lying fast asleep, because one of them had been in the service of his father, and because of the value of his Indian clothes, which his ayah made him wear now in his little cot for warmth.”

R.D. Blackmore, Mary Anerley, 1880

Ayah is another word we thought would have Asian roots. The Hindi āyā actually comes from the Portuguese aia, “nursemaid,” which comes from the Latin avia, “grandmother.” While amah is often used in East Asian countries and cultures, ayah seems to be primarily used in India.

In addition to China, India was a stopover for the Portuguese during the time they journeyed back and forth from Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries.

dodo

“The Dodo was native to Mauritius when no humans lived there, but its numbers rapidly dwindled after the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch sailors in the 1500s.”

“Dutch Diggers Discover Skeleton of Extinct Dodo Bird,” Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, December 26, 2005

The dodo, as most people know, is a clumsy, flightless, long-extinct bird that once inhabited the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. When Portuguese sailors first encountered the bird, they dubbed the poor thing doudo, simpleton or fool.

The dodo is now something of a celebrity among extinct species, making appearances in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the idioms dead as a dodo and to go the way of the dodo, which describe anything out-of-date or obsolete.

emu

“Nevertheless, they saw, though unable to get near them, a couple of those large birds peculiar to Australia, a sort of cassowary, called emu, five feet in height, and with brown plumage, which belong to the tribe of waders.”

Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island, 1874

The emu is a large flightless bird found in Australia and “related to and resembling the ostrich and the cassowary.” The word emu was once thought to have come from an Arabic term meaning “large bird,” but now is thought to have originated from the Portuguese word for “ostrich,” ema.

While it’s commonly thought that Australia was “discovered” by the Dutch in 1606, there’s the theory that the Portuguese first arrived on the continent more than 80 years earlier.

fetish

“This indeed was the solution, and had the boys known it there are many such rocks in Africa, carved out by some forgotten race, and the weird cries that the vent-holes give out in the wind doubtless acted as a powerful ‘fetish’ to keep away troublesome enemies.”

Captain Wilbur Lawton, The Boy Aviators in Africa, 1911

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest English forms of fetish came directly from the Portuguese feitiço, “charm, sorcery.” (The Portuguese came from the Latin factīcius, “artificial.”) The word originally referred to objects “used by the indigenous peoples of the Guinea coast and the neighbouring regions as amulets or means of enchantment, or regarded by them with superstitious dread.”

In the 17th century, fetish came to refer to any object “believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices”; by the 1830s, “something irrationally reverenced”; and around 1901, “a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.”

joss

“This ‘joss’ was a thick stake of wood, six or eight feet high, with the upper part roughly carved into the shape of a very ugly human face, and crudely coloured in vermilion and green.”

F.A. McKenzie, Korea’s Fight for Freedom, 1920

Joss, a Chinese god or idol, is another word that came from Portugal’s time in China. Originally Chinese pidgin English, the word is corruption of the Portuguese deos, “god,” which comes from the Latin deus.

tempura

“Tempura embodies qualities Japanese cooks hold dear: fresh ingredients, precision cooking and beautiful presentation.”

“Tempura – Or Is It Tapas?” Brisbane Times, May 12, 2008

Wait, so tempura isn’t originally Japanese? Nope: the word probably comes from the Portuguese tempero, “seasoning.” According to this Brisbane Times article, which cites the book, Japan: Its History and Culture, by W. Scott Morton:

by 1569, there were about 300,000 Christian converts in Japan and that linguistic borrowings from this period include the Portuguese words for bread (“pan,” from the Portuguese “pao”) and tempura “for fried shrimp in batter, derived from the fact that on Ember Days, “quattour tempora” days of fasting and abstinence, the Jesuit fathers ate only seafood.

The Portuguese remained in Japan until they were expelled in 1639.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Port of San Diego]

May 8, 2013 by Angela Tung

The Language of the 1920s: More Than the Bee’s Knees

No doubt: the 1920s were the bee’s knees. But the ads banking on the latest film adaptation of The Great Gatsby would have you believe the Jazz Age was all about flappers, fashion, and parties. It was more than that.

After World War I, Americans had more money to spend. That combined with “low prices. . . and generous credit made cars affordable luxuries” in the early 1920s; by the end of the decade, “they were practically necessities.”

Zez Confrey Car

With “a car in every backyard,” automobile-related language entered the everyday lexicon. There was step on it, as in “step on the gas” or hurry up, in 1923; jalopy in 1924; and in 1927, back-seat driver, “a passenger who constantly advises, corrects, or nags the driver of a motor vehicle,” and by extension, “a person who persists in giving unsolicited advice.” (This 1929 article lauded Mrs. Charles Lindbergh for keeping her mouth shut as her husband flew and being “no ‘back seat’ driver.”)

Americans were also going to the movies more. By the end of the decade, “three-quarters of the American population visited a movie theater every week,” says History.com. Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, came to refer to the U.S. film industry in general around 1926, three years after the Hollywood sign was erected.

Synonyms for the movies arose, including flick (1926) and the silver screen (1924). In 1921, Chaplinesque entered the vernacular, and in 1927, Valentino, named after movie heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, came to mean a “good-looking romantic man.”

Also in 1927, it meaning “sex appeal,” while originally coined by Rudyard Kipling, was popularized by Elinor Glyn in her novel, It, and the film of the same name. Clara Bow, the star of the movie, became known as the It Girl, which now refers to any fashionable young female celebrity with a certain something.

Clara Bow

The post-Victorian age also saw a change in “manners and mores,” with raised hemlines (“all of nine inches above the ground”), petting parties (more on that later), and wider acceptance of contraception. Along with that came new words about sex and relationships.

Blind date, a date with someone one hasn’t seen before, originated as college slang around 1921, says the Online Etymology Dictionary. The earliest attested use referred to the person one was going on the date with.

While we’re sure the French kiss existed before the 1920s, the earliest citation in English is from around 1923, with the idea of equating French culture with “sexual sophistication.”

Sexpert, a sex therapist or expert in sex, is attested to 1924. Sugar daddy, a rich older man who lavishes gifts on a younger woman, came about in 1926; gigolo, a male prostitute, is from 1922; and tomcat, to pursue multiple women, is from 1927, says the OED. To two-time, or cheat on a lover, is from 1924. The earlier non-romantic notion of to deceive or double-cross is from 1922.

Now how about those petting parties? The earliest citation goes to F. Scott Fitzgerald in his debut novel, This Side of Paradise, published in 1920: “That great current American phenomenon, the ‘petting party.'” (Petting, in case you were unclear, refers to the “practice of amorously embracing, kissing, and caressing one’s partner.”) However, not everyone was such a fan of this 1920s version of PDA, such as one Fay King in a 1923 article:

But when this love stuff becomes a dull, deadly determined battle of the eyes, and a kiss is a long drawn out disgusting episode, it’s time somebody blew a whistle or rang a bell to remind these love birds that public petting parties are not permitted.

The term sleep around originated around 1928, says the OED, with the earliest recorded mention by Aldous Huxley: “‘Sleeping around’—that was how he had heard a young American girl describe the amorous side of the ideal life, as lived in Hollywood.”

Who were these young girls? We know them as flappers. The term flapper originated around 1921, but where it came from is uncertain. A possibility is flapper meaning “a young bird when first trying its wings,” or the 17th century flap meaning “young woman of loose character.”

While we might think of the flapper as a sexually free “young woman with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked and said what might be termed ‘unladylike’ things,” the term flapper became “the popular press catch-word for an adult woman worker, aged twenty-one to thirty.”

In 1926, a train which conveyed “only female workers to London each morning” was dubbed “the flapper special.” From a 1927 article about giving women over 21 in the United Kingdom the right to vote: “The expression ‘flapper vote’ has been used by those who strongly denounced the plan to extend the vote to women between the ages of twenty and thirty.” Lady Astor, “American born pioneer woman member of the House of Commons,” responded:

They are not flappers; most of those 5,000,000 women who are going to vote are hard workers. They went into factories during the World War. They are still at work and now they are going to have their rightful vote.

The first election in the United Kingdom to allow women over 21 to vote was often called the Flapper Election.

El Daiquiri @ El Floridita

Despite the passing of the Volstead Act of 1919, at least a few new drink words sneaked into English. Bubbly, slang for champagne, is from 1920. It comes from the earlier bubbly water, which now refers to water that’s carbonated. The sidecar, “a cocktail combining brandy, an orange-flavored liqueur, and lemon juice,” came about in 1928, says the OED.

Daiquiri, a cocktail of “rum, lime or lemon juice, and sugar,” is first attested to Fitzgerald in This Side of Paradise: “Here’s the old jitney waiter. If you ask me, I want a double Daiquiri.” Daiquiri is also the name of a beach in Cuba, and was supposedly invented by an American mining engineer who was there during the Spanish-American War.

To discourage illegal drinking, in 1924 a national contest was held “to coin a word to characterize a person who drinks illegally.” Two contestants simultaneously entered scofflaw, a combination of scoff and law. Now scofflaw also refers to “one who habitually violates the law or fails to answer court summonses.”

Continued demand for alcohol and lack of legal supply led to supply by criminal means. Although the term speakeasy had been around since the late 19th century, it gained wide usage during the Prohibition. (For more on speakeasy language, check out this post from the OxfordWords blog.) The mob, referring to organized crime, originated in 1927. The fuzz, slang for the police, is from 1929, while cop a plea is from 1925.

In terms of harder stuff, weed became slang for marijuana in the 1920s, perhaps as a shortening of locoweed. From a 1924 article:

“Marihuana,” or “Marijuana” as some spell it, the everyday “loco weed” that formerly grew wild on the deserts of northern Mexico, now is being cultivated on thousands of acres in that country for sale to addicts of the plant in this country.

Other 1920s terms for marijuana are Mary Jane (1928) and muggle (1926). The term junkie is from 1923, and wingding, now known as a lively party or celebration, originated in 1927, says the OED, as “a fit or spasm, esp. as simulated by a drug addict.”

Crash meaning “to join or enter. . .without invitation” originated around 1922. The financial meaning of a “sudden severe downturn” is older, from 1817, but gained resurgence with the Wall Street crash of 1929, which marked the end of a prosperous and seemingly carefree time.

[Photo, “Zez Confrey Car,” CC BY 2.0 by Infrogmation]
[Photo: “Clara Bow,” CC BY 2.0 by Classic Film Scans]
[Photo: “Saturday Evening Post,” Public Domain]
[Photo: “El Daiquiri @ El Floridita,” CC BY 2.0 by kudumomo]

April 1, 2013 by Angela Tung - 2 Comments

Dupes, Gulls, and Schnooks: The Words of April Fools

Jester

Happy April Fools’ Day! On this day that originated in the 1680s with the custom of “sending people on false errands” (or hunting the gowk, as the Scots called it), we’re rounding up our favorite fool words.

Not interested? Check out Google’s newest product instead. Happy gowk hunting!

cat’s-paw

“I see what you are after; but you’ll not wheedle me: I am no cat’s-paw.”

Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, 1849

A cat’s-paw is “a person used by another as a dupe or tool.” The term comes from the earlier cat’s-foot, which refers to “the fable or tale of a monkey (or a fox) using the foot or paw of a cat to rake roasted chestnuts out of the burning coals,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

A cat’s-paw is also “a light breeze that ruffles small areas of a water surface,” and “a knot made by twisting a section of rope to form two adjacent eyes through which a hook is passed, used in hoisting.”

cully

“On being let in, the girls of the house flocked round Charles, whom they knew, and from the earliness of my escape, and their perfect ignorance of his ever having so much as seen me, not having the least suspicion of his being accessory to my flight, they were, in their way, making up to him; and as to his companion, they took him probably for a fresh cully.”

John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill, 1749

Cully refers to a fool or a dupe, or the act of fooling or duping. The origin of the word is uncertain. It may come from cullion, an obsolete term for “a low or despicable fellow,” as well as slang for “testicle.”

Cullion is French in origin and ultimately comes from the Latin coleus, “a leather bag, the scrotum” (see the Spanish cojones).

dotterel

“The names of various stupid birds have been used at different periods for ‘fool’ or ‘dupe’: – gull (properly a ‘young bird’ of any kind), pigeon, daw, dodo, dotterel, and rook.”

James Bradstreet Greenough and George Lyman Kittredge, Words and Their Ways in English Speech, 1901

A dotterel is a kind of bird in the plover family. The word seems to come from the Middle German doten, “to be foolish” (see dotage). The bird, says the Century Dictionary, “derives its name from its apparent stupidity, or tameness, allowing itself to be easily approached and taken.” Hence, dotterel gained the meaning of a person who is easily duped.

dupe

“When Taffy turned to look for him, he was gone, without even taking the trouble to call his dupe a fool.”

William Elliot Griffis, Welsh Fairy Tales, 1921

Dupe, which we would have guessed came from duplicity, is thieves’ cant, possibly coming from the phrase de huppe, “of the hoopoe.” The hoopoe is “an extravagantly crested and reputedly stupid bird.” Duplicity, by the way, comes from Late Latin duplicitās, “doubleness.”

gudgeon

“The sharper then retires to his place of business and keeps a lookout for the gudgeon, who turns up soon afterward.”

“Catching Gudgeons: Horse Sharpers and the Way They Swindle,” The Daily Herald, January 9, 1885

Gudgeon is another dupe word based on the apparent stupidity of an animal, this time a small freshwater fish related to the carp. The gudgeon has a reputation of being easily caught and therefore used for bait. The word comes from the Latin gobios, a kind of small fish.

gull

“It should be observed, however, that ‘gull,’ a dupe, did not refer specially to the sea gull, the word having formerly meant a young bird of any kind.”

“Rook and Crook,” The Pittsburgh Press, February 7, 1913

The origin of the dupe meaning of gull has a number of possibilities. It may come from an early meaning of any “unfledged bird,” or else from gullet, with the idea of a gull being “someone who will swallow anything thrown at him,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Gull helped give rise to gullibility, which is an alteration of the older cullibility. Cullibility comes from cully, which we discussed earlier. Gullible is a back-formation of gullibility.

muggins

“Any muggins can write about Old Times on the Miss. of 500 different kinds, but I am the only man alive that can scribble about the piloting of that day–and no man ever has tried to scribble about it yet.”

Mark Twain, The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete, 1853-1866

According to the OED, “the surname Muggins is well attested in the names of various characters presented as foolish or easily tricked in 18th- and 19th-cent. popular and comic writing,” hence the meaning of muggins as a fool or idiot, often when ironically referring to oneself.

Muggins also refers to a children’s card game, a game of dominoes, and the act of scoring against an opponent due to the opponent’s mistake.

pigeon

“Pigeon dropper. It’s the name the Windsor Police have given to teams of two, three or four persons who conspire to dupe a ‘pigeon,’ or victim, of hard-earned cash.”

Rosemary McCracken, “Police Warn of Frauds,” The Windsor Star, December 27, 1974

Pigeon came to mean “a simpleton to be swindled” probably due to the bird’s perceived lack of smarts. According to the Century Dictionary, a pigeon is opposed to the savvier rook, a kind of crow, which also came to mean a swindler or cheat. To pluck a pigeon means to swindle someone, says the OED.

The term stool pigeon, “a person acting as a decoy or as an informer, especially one who is a spy for the police,” comes from the hunting practice of “tying decoy pigeons to a stool to attract other pigeons.”

rabbit-sucker

“’Oh, yeah, (dropping the formality of thou art), you’re a reeky, pale-hearted rabbit-sucker,’ a student says.”

Bruce R. Posten, “Students Learn Shakespeare Is to Be Played, Not Just Read,” Reading Eagle, October 19, 2000

A rabbit-sucker is a suckling rabbit, therefore someone young, naive, and ripe for the picking by predators.

William Shakespeare seems to have originated the phrase in Henry IV: “Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulters hare.”

schnook

“In the seven ‘Road’ movies with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, Hope fashioned his classic persona: the cutesy coward, the bumbling braggart, the schnook who loses the girl to the debonair Crosby.”

Jack Kroll, “Springing Eternal,” Newsweek, April 10, 2003

While schnook now refers to any gullible person, the Online Etymology Dictionary says it first referred specifically to “a customer easily persuaded, a sucker.”

The word is U.S. slang that became popular in the 1940s, and either comes from the Yiddish shnuk, “snout,” or is an alteration of schmuck.

younker

“What, will you make a younker of me? shall I not take mine case in mine inn but I shall have my pocket picked?”

William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, 1597

In addition to a dupe, younker also refers to “a young man of condition; a young gentleman or knight,” and “a young person; a lad; a youngster.”

The word probably came to mean a novice or simpleton from the idea a youngster being easily tricked and taken advantage of. The word comes from the Obsolete Dutch jonchere, “young nobleman.”

[Photo: “Jester,” CC BY 2.0 by David Merrett]

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