Tracy from Sherman, Texas, wonders why her dad always used cabbage as a verb to mean “to pilfer or swipe.” This term goes back to at least the 18th century, when the verb to cabbage had to do with employee theft. Specifically, it referred to the way dressmakers would cut fabric for a garment and keep the excess for themselves, perhaps rolling it into a little ball that looked like, well, cabbage. Today, a student might sneak in a cabbage sheet to cheat on a test. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Cabbage as a Verb”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Tracy from Sherman, Texas.
Hi, Tracy. Welcome to the show.
Hi.
What’s happening? What can we help you with?
Well, there are some words my father has been using all my life. He is from deep east Texas, and when he’s wanting to get something, claim something, he’ll say, oh, we need to cabbage on to that. And I’ve always loved origins of words and have yet to find the origin of this one.
And would he talk about it in terms of swiping it, like from somebody else?
It would be more like swiping. It wouldn’t be like purchasing. It would be like obtaining it.
-huh.
Oh, this is great. This makes me really excited, Tracy, because this goes way back. It goes back to the idea. And it’s got a good story behind it. It goes back to the idea of employee theft back in the 17th or 18th century. Now stick with me here. Like imagine that you’re a tailor and you’re working in a dress shop for somebody else. And so you cut out the pattern for a dress and then you have all these leftover scraps, right? So you just sort of tuck them in your pocket and take them home to use later.
Wow.
And people referred to that as cabbaging something. Maybe because it looked like a rolled up, you know, all those rolled up scraps looked like a cabbage. Or maybe it had to do with a play on the word garbage or grabbage, you know, playing on that word. But it’s a word that’s been around for quite a long time, meaning to steal or pilfer.
Oh, interesting. And here we find it in East Texas.
Yeah.
Oh, that’s good. I can use this in my classroom. This is great.
Oh, what kind of class do you have?
Well, I teach history for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. So I would teach ancient history to my 6th graders, Texas history to my 7th graders, and American history to my 8th graders.
Oh, great. Then you’re as excited as I am because this is something that your dad used, and it goes way back. It’s got a great history to it. That is a great, great word.
Yeah, and so you might also carry a cabbage sheet around to cheat on a test, for example.
Well, maybe you shouldn’t tell your students about that one.
Well, he’ll be very tickled because I’m typically a little embarrassed when he uses the word.
Oh, really? No, no. It’s got a great history.
Yeah, he’s plugged right into a long history.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
Yeah.
Tracy, thank you so much for sharing your word with us. We really appreciate it. And good luck with your classes.
Thank you very much.
All right. Take care.
All right. Bye-bye.
Thank you.
I love that.
I do, too.
Pockets of history right in your community, right?
Yeah.
Next to you, and you didn’t quite know it.
Yeah.
You thought the speaker was just being odd or unusual or they made it up, and you realize, well, there’s 200 years or more of history here, and it’s a story.
Yeah, yeah.
This is why we do the show, right?
This is why I’m fanning myself right now. If you’ve got something like that, we’re going to try to get to the bottom of it, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
