Stacy from Marquette, Michigan, says her German-born grandfather would warn that she was going to get a putsch or potch, meaning a “a gentle slap” on her bottom, if she misbehaved. The German verb Patsch means “slap.” The related dialectal German term Putsch, which means a “slap” or “smack,” evolved to mean “armed insurrection” or “violent attempt to overthrow a government,” such as Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. A similar image of striking is reflected in French coup d’etát — literally a “stroke of state” — and the analogous Spanish term golpe de estado. Yiddish speakers refer to a potch in tuchus or potch in tuchis, meaning “a light slap on the bum.” The related words potchkie and potchkee can also mean to “fuss or mess around.” For example, one might speak of a person who is potchkeeing around. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
