If someone’s feeling owly, they’re in a grumpy mood and ought to pull up their socks and cut it out. The phrase is chiefly used in the Midwest and Canada and can be found in some dictionaries from Novia Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Some people think owls look grumpy or creepy, although others think they’re adorable. Then there are those who prefer moist owlets. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Feeling Owly”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Sigrun Newell from Albany, New York.
Hi, Sigrun. Welcome to the show.
Hi, Sigrun.
Hi, nice to talk to you.
Yeah, you too. What can we do for you today?
Well, I have been listening to you for many, many years,
And I noticed that you almost never have anything from Iowa.
So I thought I would rectify that by calling you in with a word from Iowa.
Okay, please.
From Iowa.
I started thinking about this when I heard you talking about the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase,
What’s crawling on your liver, because my father used a word which is totally polar opposite from
That for the same circumstance. What he would say is, I think you’re feeling rather owly today.
Owly.
Owly.
And it means what exactly?
It means out of sorts, grumpy, grumbly, grouchy. It’s just in a grumpy, awful mood.
And he’s an Iowan or was an Iowan?
He’s an Iowan. Yeah, he was an Iowan.
Comes from Norwegian-American stock.
And so I wondered if it was a family word, a Scandinavian word,
That is a Scandinavian-American word, or a Iowan word.
So I thought I would call and ask you about it.
Is he from the north of Iowa? It does matter a little bit.
I would say so.
Okay.
-huh.
And so Owly in the place that he grew up meant irritable, peevish, cross, angry, that kind of thing?
Absolutely.
-huh.
That’s interesting.
Well, this fits perfectly with what we know about the word Owly.
It is chiefly in the Midwest and Canada.
Yeah, it’s far more common in Canada, as a matter of fact, and where it appears in the U.S. Is mostly in those border states.
Yeah, so it’s not just a family word.
We didn’t use it in Iowa.
Oh, I never heard of it.
That’s why I asked about northern Iowa, because Missouri and Iowa abut each other.
No, I’d never heard it until it came up in my…
Actually, it came up first in a dictionary from Nova Scotia.
That’s where I first encountered it.
Yeah.
And then it’s also in a dictionary from Prince Edward Island, and then you’re in there.
But the idea of owly, why owly?
I suspect it has to do with the way an owl looks, just that unusual expression that those birds have.
I know in the 1700s, the expression to take owl meant to be offended.
Oh, I wonder about that.
Yeah, take owl or take the owl.
That suggests a connection.
Yeah.
Interesting.
I hadn’t thought about it that way.
I was thinking it was not the bird so much as the sound of the word.
Oh, really?
It does have a crabby sound about it when you say it.
Yeah, it’s kind of like growly without the G-R, right?
Owly.
That’s funny.
So would he use it in a joking way, or this was really a way to finesse being angry?
It was a scolding way.
A scolding way.
Saying that I wasn’t supposed to be grouchy or out of mood.
So you’re feeling rather owly today.
It was very much like, pull up your socks and stop feeling that way.
So a reprimand.
That’s really interesting.
Yeah.
Although he would use it for himself, saying, I’m feeling owly.
So it wasn’t always necessarily that negative.
Right, right. I’ve seen that too.
Well, thanks, Sigrun, for the question.
I hope we helped today, and I hope you’re feeling not owly about it.
Not at all. Thank you very much.
My pleasure. Bye-bye.
Okay, bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
There’s a great quote in one of the dictionaries here
About somebody who saw something they didn’t like,
And they said, when he seen that, in dialect English,
When he seen that, he was some owly.
Some owl.
I think owls are getting a bad rap here.
They are fierce looking.
And if you’ve ever had an owl screech at you or make that noise in the talons and the beak, they look pretty intimidating.
I mean, they’re fluffed up and stuff.
Well, but when they’re real little in the owl cam here in San Diego County.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And the burrowing owls are kind of cute to kind of their little trotting walk like tiny fuzzy penguins.
Yeah, I think Owly could be cute.
But I guess Ducky is cuter.
Yeah.
Are you feeling Ducky?
I’m feeling.
I’m not feeling Owly.
I’m being a little kitty right now.
Well, we want to hear about your language stories.
You can call us at 877-929-9673 or send them an email to words@waywordradio.org.
