As I said, I’m loving America In So Many Words. It’s great for getting acquainted with American history and some awesome random trivia. But it also has led me to discover a bunch of words that really ought to make a comeback.
- kinnikinnick– a mixture of leaves for smoking (1729)
- netop– a friend (1643)
- punk– overcooked corn; slow-burning sticks; and, of course, a small-time hoodlum (originally 1618)
- squaw winter– an early cold spell (contrasting with an indian summer) (1777)
- Note: Though the settlers imbued the term “squaw” with a derogatory connotation, it originally meant a leader who was a woman. Maybe we should get squaw back to its roots!
- pumpkin head– a New England colonist hairstyle, created by placing a pumpkin shell on someone’s head and cutting around it! (1654)
- I imagine this is much like the ’90s fad of the “bowl cut”
- backlog– the large log placed in the back of a fire, along with “top-stick,” “fore-stick,” and “and-irons”(1684)
- nowadays, it’s an accumulation
- prairie schooner- a covered wagon (1841)
- loggerhead– a slow-witted person (ok, this one is Shakespeare)
- johnny cake or jonakin– cornbread (1739)
- breechclout– a clout of piece of cloth to cover one’s breech (buttocks) (1757)
- bust my buttons– to strain or laugh (1921)
- busticated- broken (1916)
- bustified – pot-bellied (1939)
- bee– a social, busy gathering (1768); also frolic
- we’ve kept “spelling bee,” but they also had wood chopping bees, painting bees, and even kissing bees!
- drugstore cowboy- someone who puts on airs of being tough or sophisticated (1779)
- bug- an enthusiast, now a fan (1785); ex. baseball bug
- keno-essentially, the modern lottery; a game where players mark of numbers printed on a ticket- the keno caller draws numbers on keno balls from a keno goose to determine the winner (1814)
- bunkum- nonsense OR (a competing definition from the same time) excellent and outstanding (1819)
- blizzard- a knock-down blow or punch (1825)
- sockdolager- a decisive blow; something or someone big (1827)
- interestingly, one of the last words President Abraham Lincoln ever heard!
- callithumpian- a noisy parade (early 19th century)
- slumgullion- something disgusting (early 19th century)
- slangwhanger- a partisan speechmaker (early 19th century)
- rawheel/tenderfoot- a beginner or newcomer (1849)
- high muckamuck- plenty of food or someone who assumes an air of importance (1856); we’re left now with “muckety mucks”
- hulloo- a predecessor to “hello” (1885)
- jellybean– a derogatory term for someone weak or timid (1905)
I don’t know about you, but these are basically the cool kinds of words that I’ve always wanted out of a word-a-day calendar.
Whattya say? Can we give these all-American words a new life? Do you have any favorite obscure words?
M.E. Kinkade 