A native German speaker is curious about the English word doofus, which sounds a lot like German doof, meaning “stupid” or “daft.” English doofus first appeared in the 1960s, apparently modeled after goofus, another term for a “dolt” or “stupid person.” In the Scots language, dowf or douf means “listless” or “dull.” German doof apparently derives from taub, or “deaf,” which can also describe something lacking some essential quality, such as “deaf” seeds that don’t germinate. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
Two words from the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee prep materials: avahi, a term for a woolly lemur of Madagascar, and saltigrade, which describes spiders and other creatures that have feet and limbs adapted for leaping. Saltigrade is...
Louie from Black Hills, South Dakota, recalls the time his girlfriend fell off a paddleboard and into a lake, at which point his father declared She bit the farm! This peculiar locution is most likely his dad’s own combination of two...