Freeze Your Caboogies Off

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Skylar calling from Boston.

Hi, Skylar.

Welcome to the show. How can we help?

I have a question related to a phrase that my mom has always used that I embarrassingly, I think, realized was unique to our family a little too late in life, but that’s okay.

The phrase is one that she says when it’s cold outside.

She says something like, oh, I don’t want to go outside. I’m going to freeze my kaboogies off.

And I have no idea what the word kaboogie or kaboogies, I don’t know if it’s plural or singular.

I have no idea what it means, and I have no idea if anyone else in the world has ever used it.

So, Skylar, you said you discovered late in life that not everybody uses it?

Yeah, I mean, I think I made reference. My theory is that a kaboogie is some reference to your rear end.

Sometimes she’ll say something like, move your kaboogs.

Oh.

I’m being really cat.

Okay.

And so I think I made reference, you know, I was like 16, and I made reference to my kaboogs once, and my friends kind of looked at me in, you know, the way that high school girls do, like I had, you know, three heads.

So that was when I realized it probably wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t totally common, but maybe someone out there.

And you were brought back into the herd.

Maybe someone out there had a similar experience.

Kaboogs. Move your kaboogs. Move your kaboogies.

Yeah.

So, Grant, have you ever heard this term?

No, but I mean, we have a zillion expressions for the bum, the derriere, the rear end, the hind end, right?

And a lot of them are funny, like caboose or booty or they’re infantile in a way, childish.

And that kind of fits naturally into that.

I have one theory. It’s just a theory, just a guess.

Okay, have you ever heard the word bahookie?

No.

No, but I’ve heard bazooty.

What’s a bazooty?

Bazooty is your bum as well.

We have entries for that in the dictionary on our website.

Okay, well, a bohoocky is also your bum, especially in Scotland.

And so I’m wondering if bohoocky became kaboogie.

Oh, interesting.

I mean, sort of like a spoonerism, like metathesis or something.

It’s possible.

Bohoocky.

But it also could just be a family word.

There are a lot of these words, right?

These euphemistic ways to talk about your bum without being crass.

Well, you sort of understand it, right?

Yeah, you get it.

I mean, those high school girls should have understood what you were talking about.

I think they probably did, but they were taking pleasure in the weirdness of it anyway.

The struggle to be cool occupies a great deal of mind.

Yeah.

Although, you know, now that I think about it, I had a college roommate who used to use the word behoogies, and she meant breasts.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I did find a few references here and there where it could mean bosoms.

There are a few things on Urban Dictionary that are spelled approximately the same way.

They begin with a K. They maybe have a B or a P inside somewhere.

That’s what I’m saying.

This particular construction is incredibly common with a wide variety of probably dozens of different spellings usually referring to the bum almost always in a very low register of English without being crass or offensive.

So I think I would call this a family word unless we get a bunch of calls and emails saying that other people use it too.

And we might, you never know.

So Skylar, stay tuned.

And stay warm.

And if anything, it’s good to know we’re not alone. Other people make these up, and I can throw a boogie in once in a while to raise things up.

Well, that’s another whole thing.

Never let people stop you using a word that you want to use.

Feel free.

Especially if your boogie’s cold or your kaboogies.

Right, exactly.

It’s perfect for this weather.

That’s right.

You’ve got to complain about it somehow, right?

Stay warm.

Take care.

Exactly.

Thanks for calling, Scott.

Thanks so much.

It was great to talk to you.

Bye.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

You can get off your bazootie and give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email words@waywordradio.org.