The term no-see-ums refers to those pesky gnats that come out in the heat and humidity and are so tiny they’re almost invisible. The term goes back at least as far as the 1830s, and is heard particularly in the Northeastern United States. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “No-See-Ums”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Tony calling from McKinney, Texas.
Hello, Tony.
What’s up?
One evening last summer after dinner, we decided to go outside for a walk, get some exercise.
Now, of course, we live close to Dallas, and it’s hot in the summertime.
So we’re working up a pretty good sweat walking around the neighborhood.
And as people in the south, in the Texas area also probably remember, or when they’re out walking sometimes and exercising, these little gnats, these bugs that just kind of swarm around your face. They’re just a nuisance. And we’re walking, perspiring and swatting these bugs away. And my wife says, Tony, these no-see-ums are driving me crazy. And I just stopped. And I said, what did you say? And she said, these no-see-ums are driving me nuts. And I had never heard that word before. I just started laughing. I mean, I know what she’s talking about, the bugs, but I was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She’s from LaGrange, Georgia, so we’re from the South. I figure it’s some kind of Southern slang term, but no-see-ums. I had never heard that word, and I listen to you guys every week, so I thought I’d give you a call and have you tell me where that came from.
How interesting, Tony. Both of you are from the South. So yeah, yeah, that was really interesting to meet you.
Noseum, probably N-O-S-E-E and apostrophe E-M, the word them kind of abbreviated, right? Or it could be N-O-S-E-E-Y-U-M, Noseum.
Oh, Noseum.
It pops up here and there in the South, but it’s mainly used in the northern part of the United States, around the Great Lakes and the Northwest.
Yeah.
I mean, I’m not surprised it’s in the South, but the data that I have show that it’s just not that common down there.
It dates back to the 1830s, and it’s usually attributed in early books and journals to the speech of the Native Americans. And supposedly it’s what they said to describe the small bugs when they were speaking to the Anglophones and the English speakers.
Although it’s got a flavor about it. Unfortunately, it’s got a flavor of it as like one of those things that was purported to be said by the Native Americans, but it probably was just a joke on the part of the English speakers. They probably didn’t actually say it like that. Who knows?
Wow, that is interesting because I would have thought it was strictly from the South.
No, no.
So in the Dictionary of American Regional English, which is all about regional dialects, there’s a map and it shows the data that they collected over many decades shows almost all of the spots around the Great Lakes, particularly Wisconsin and Michigan, New York State, New England, all up in there, and then pockets in the Northwest, Oregon, Washington, Northern California.
Well, I can’t wait to tell her that. She’ll be really interested because she just couldn’t believe that I had never heard of that word being from the South, and I never had heard it before.
Yeah, it’s mostly North American. I’m probably not going to hear that very often in other English-speaking countries.
What do you call them, Tony?
Yeah, what would you call them? Would you just call them midges or something else?
Nats.
Yeah, I call them gnats.
Okay, gotcha.
Yeah, little bitty gnats.
Yeah, tiny gnats that just seem to swarm, and no matter how much you swat, they won’t stay away from you.
Yeah, they just love it.
Boy, is that a metaphor.
Yeah, there you go.
Well, I sure enjoy your show. I listen every week.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, Tony. We appreciate it.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
