Jaggin Around

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Chris Miller from Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Hi, Chris. Welcome to the show.

Hello, Chris. How can we help you?

Well, I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And growing up there, we had this term that we would always use, jagging around, to refer to goofing off or having fun. And I’ve always wondered where that term would originate.

This is a classic Pennsylvania term, right?

Yeah, it is. There’s probably a handful of others like a gum band or a crick. There was one other that’s kind of similar. Like a rose bush, we would refer to that as a jagger bush. So I don’t know if that jagger relates to jagging around or not.

There we go. Martha’s hair on the back of her neck just stood up because you clicked for her.

Indeed, right, because jag is an old word that means to prick or stab or jab. And so if you’re jagging around, you’re kind of annoying and teasing, harassing each other, right?

Right. I see. Yeah, you’re playing tricks on them. You’re irritating them by sort of poking them metaphorically.

Very good. I was wondering if those two are related, so I guess they are.

We think so. There’s an interesting phonetic thing happening here where the words jack, jerk, and jag all tend to be kind of conflated and mixed up because the sounds are so similar in the mouth and easily corrupted into each other. And so there’s a lot of, like, confluence there. But in general, yeah, this is probably related to this, what is it, 200-year-old, 250-year-old term meaning to poke or to prick or to stick.

Very good. Okay, great. But why it’s stuck in Pennsylvania, we don’t know. But there is a little bit of what I call the Chamber of Commerce pride here, which is Pennsylvanians know that they’re known for it. So they’re kind of proud of being known for it, which makes them use it and talk about it more.

But you said you don’t live in Pennsylvania anymore. Is that right?

That’s right. I’m in Virginia.

Okay. And do folks in Virginia know what you’re talking about when you say jagging around?

No, I don’t really use it. Probably, if I brought it up, I’m sure no one would have any idea what I’m talking about.

So you already know it as a Pennsylvania term then?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I left in 79 and I haven’t really been back for any length of time. But the funny thing is, one phrase that is attributed to Western Pennsylvania is yins, like y’all. But I don’t remember saying that when I was growing up.

Oh really? Interesting.

You don’t remember that? Yeah, that’s highly associated with that part of the country.

Ian’s the third person, person plural.

Second person plural.

Second person, I’m sorry, you all, you guys.

Right, very good. I’m glad we straightened that out.

Yeah, so thanks for the call Chris, really appreciate it. I know there’s a ton of great language happening in Virginia. So if you come across something, drop us a line, alright?

Well my wife’s a southern belle, I’ll get her to call in.

Oh yeah, this is good. The cross-cultural conflict.

That’s what we want to hear. Please do.

We almost didn’t get married because I was a Yankee.

I want to hear about that. Just send me an email or send me your diary or whatever.

I’ll do that. Take care now.

Thanks for calling.

Thanks for calling.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, we know there’s language where you live that belongs to you and your people. Let us know about it, 877-929-9673. Email us, words@waywordradio.org. We have a fantastic Facebook page and a Facebook group, both with lots of lively conversation.