Origins: It's Not Nice to Say Nice

Origins is a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.



Today's word is: NICE

I was a terrible, lousy, horrible speller all through school. Surprisingly with the advent of computers, I have become much better. You'd think spell check would have made me worse by making it easier. But the opposite is the case.

I now consider myself simply a lousy speller.

My family never gave in when I asked them how to spell a word. It was always, "Look it up in the dictionary." To which I always whined, "How can I look it up when I don't know how to spell it?" But they were merciless and stood their ground. It taught me how to look up all possible spellings until I got the right one. It also taught me to love words and their histories.

I was about eight, when I first discovered etymology. The word was NICE and yeah, I couldn't spell it. Those silent Es and essy sounding Cs gave me fits.

This is what I discovered. Nice comes to us from Middle English and meant foolish or wanton. The Middle English word came from Old French and meant simple-minded or stupid. And that comes from the Latin word "nescius" which means ignorant or not knowing. So, originally, nice was used to describe someone who was ignorant, unschooled or silly.

When I learned this I was totally shocked and totally hooked. I would never look at words the same way and I would never take them for granted. Now they were mysteries with histories.

It wasn't until Shakespeare's time that nice began to take on a new meaning. I can just hear those rowdy teens, those juvenile delinquents, those avant garde artist types turning it into slang, saying, "Thy doublet is NICE!" The same thing is happening today with the word BAD. "Bad jacket, dude." Maybe in a few hundred years bad will mean nice.

Anyway, if there's someone you really don't like and you want to let him know in a totally subtle way without being rude, you can tell him you think he's a really "nice" person. I betcha he'll never get the sarcasm.

Got a favorite word that's changed it's meaning?

Origins - Spunk

Origins is a recurring past in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.



Today's word is: Spunk

My research says it comes from the Scottist Gaelic word spong, meaning tinder which in turn comes from the Latin spongia, meaning sponge. Touchwood, a common kindling, looked like sponge and so the Scots called it spong. Another word for this kind of tinder is punk (which has evolved into a different meaning as well.) In Irish the word was sponc.

So how do we get from spong to spunk? It goes something like this. A Scot is trying to light his fire using spong (touchwood) sparks fly and the spong (or punk) is ignited.

By the 1530's spong had taken on the meaning of "a spark." But it wasn't until the mid 1770s it came to mean mettle, courage, or pluck.

At some point spong and punk became spunk meaning a person who has passion, spirit, or fire which relates right back to spark.

I like the word spunk. It's short and quick, leaping out of the mouth just like a spark.

Writers need spunk. We need to have fire and passion to keep doing something where the odds are stacked so much against us.

So put on your spunk and keep on truckin'.

Do you have a piece of clothing or an object that epitomizes spunk?

Do you think you have spunk?

Do you know a spunky person?

Origins - Happy as a Clam

Origins is a recurring past in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's phrase is:

Happy as a clam.














Have you ever met a happy clam? If you have, just how happy was it? And how did you know it was happy? Was it smiling at you?


Actually...they do kind of look like they're smiling, which is one reason given for the phrase. But the truth is probably simpler.  Most everywhere I looked suggested that "happy as a clam" is only the first part of a longer phrase, "happy as a clam at high water." And why would a clam be happy at high water? It would be safer from predators and people who might want to eat them.

Yeah, if I were a clam I'd be happy at high tide too. It is an American idiom.

In 1840 an American poet by the name of John Godfrey Saxe  wrote this "Sonnet to a Clam."

Inglorious friend! most confident I am
   Thy life is one of very little ease;
   Albeit men mock thee with their similes
And prate of being "happy as a clam!"
What though thy shell protects thy fragile head
   From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea?
   Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee,
While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed,
And bear thee off -- as foemen take their spoil --
   Far from thy friends and family to roam;
   Forced, like a Hessian, from they native home,
To meet destruction in a foreign broil!
   Though thou art tender yet thy humble bard
   Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard!

(I have to laugh. "Forced, like a Hessian from thy native home?" )

A second recorded mention of it is from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Adams Sentinel, from August 1844: "Crispin was soon hammering and whistling away as happy as a clam at high water."

So there you have it. Are you happy now? If not, try these phrases on for size.
Happy as:
a lark
a pig in slop/in mud
the day is long
a dog with two tails
a kid in a candy store
a bug in a rug
a monkey with a peanut machine
a fox in a hen house

Can you think of any others?

Origins - Whippersnapper

Last time we looked into the origin of fuddy-duddy. So it only stands to reason that we should learn a little bit about the word whippersnapper.

It was all new to me.

Image by  Nelipot at Cheeseburger.com

The word whippersnapper (as you probably know) describes a young person who is impertinent, lazy, and who lacks motivation. One usually hears it coming out of the mouth of an old fuddy-duddy.

What does snapping a whip have to do with being lazy, when cracking the whip has to do with demanding obedience?

Apparently, back in the 17th century there were young men who were ne'er do wells. To pass the time they loitered around on street corners and idly snapped whips.

It didn't take long for people to start calling them whippersnappers.      



Synonyms include:

a nobody, a nothing, boldface, brat, brazenface, chutzpanik, cipher, common man, dummy, elf, enfant terrible, figurehead, gamin, holy terror, hussy, imp, jackstraw, juvenile delinquent, lightweight, little fellow, little guy, little monkey, malapert, man of straw, minx, nebbish, ne'er do well, nonentity, nullity, pip-squeak, puck, punk, punk kid, pup, puppy, runt, saucebox, scrub, shrimp, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, smart aleck, smart-ass, smarty, smarty-pants, spoiled brat, squirt, squit, swaggerer, upstart, urchin, whiffet, wise guy, wise-ass, zero, zilch

You can learn a bit more about whippersnapper here.

Got any whippersnappers in your home?

Origins - Fuddy-duddy - AND WINNERS!

YES we have winners for Judy Croome's book, Dancing in the Shadows of Love.

The print copy goes to:
Anne Gallagher at Piedmont Writer

The three ebooks go to:
M. G. Higgins
Christina Farley at Chocolate for Inspiration
Medeia Sharif

I have your emails, except for you Christina, which I will pass on to Judy so that she can get those books to you. So send me your email Christina!

Congratulations my friends! Judy and I thank all of you who visited and left a comment.

(We now return to our regularly scheduled program.)

***

Sometimes when I'm doing the morning crossword I run across a clue or answer that sticks with me for a day or two or three. I wonder about the history of the word or phrase. Sometimes the word will roll around in my head so much it starts to sound totally ridiculous. (I know that's happened to you.)

Such was the case recently when I ran across the word(s) fuddy-duddy. Go on (you know you want to) say it six, seven or more times in a row, fast. The letters play around on your lips and tongue in the most delightful way.

Naturally I had to look it up. A most extensive and excellent explanation was given at The Phrase Finder.

Duddy is a Scottish word meaning ragged. Fuddy, also Scottish, was a term used for buttocks. The British term duddy fuddiel means ragged fellow. What isn't clear is how fuddy and duddy got married in the U. S. and came to mean an old fashioned, narrow minded, old poop. But it did.

It seems that despite its decidedly Scottish and British origins, it is American slang. The first recorded use of the word was in 1889 in the Galveston Daily News. That's right, Texas has the honor. The quote is: "Look here; I'm Smith -- Hamilton Smith. I'm a minister and I try to do about right...I object to being represented as an old fuddy-duddy." Obviously from the way it's used the term had been around long enough for people to know what he was talking about.

We even have a famous character named after the word. Meet Elmer Fudd. Poor Elmer.



Synonyms: If you're looking for another word besides fuddy-duddy (but it's such a great word why use something else?) here's a list:
antediluvian, Colonel Blimp (picture comes to mind) conservative, dinosaur, dodo, dotard, dull person, fogy (just what the heck is a fogy?) fossil, frump, fuss pot, fussbudget (this would be interesting to explore), fussy person, granny, mossback, narrow minded, old bore, old fart, old fogy, old geezer (where did geezer come from?) old maid, old poop, old-fashioned, pain in the butt (my own addition) picayune, picky, pompous, reactionary, spoilsport, square, stick-in-the-mud (this must have a unique history) stuffed shirt and wet blanket.

Do you know a fuddy-duddy? Have one in your family? Are you a fuddy-duddy? Would you admit to being one if you were?