January 9, 2010
It is the second day of The Game and I have spent the whole day planning, preparing and eating my healthy meals. I have also not had coffee in two whole days! If you know me, I LOVE coffee. If I had children, I'd give up my first born for a gorgeous, steaming, flavourful cup of that beautiful brown elixir. There is something about the smell and taste of a freshly brewed cup of coffee that makes me so happy - and perky. I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms - headache, fatigue and irritability (or stroppines) - which have made me declare that this game sucks! Which in turn, makes me, my teammates, and my opponents suckers. As I sent an e-mail to one of the other participants this morning, I ended it with "Enjoy your water, Sucker!" (How is that for some friendly trash talk?!) This had me wondering where that word came from; could it actually be from what I thought? Today's question is: what is the origin of the word sucker?
A: The word sucker first shows up in the 14th century as the word souker, meaning a 'young mammal that has yet to be weaned'. It was not until the 1830's that the word developed the meaning of someone who is easily deceived.
The word presumably arose by likening a naive person to a newborn animal, which is weak and defenceless.
I suppose my mind was really in gutter... I thought it would have been derived from something more derogatory. Well, I'm happy to hear it wasn't!
Sources
Take Our Word For It: Issue 13
The Mavens' Word of the Day
No comments:
Post a Comment