Potching Around

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Beth. I’m calling from Springfield, New Hampshire.

Hiya, Beth. Welcome to the show. How can we help you?

Well, I’m curious about a word that I grew up with in my family, but I’ve never heard anywhere else.

And the word is potch.

Oh.

P-O-T-C-H.

P-O-T-C-H.

Yeah, and it’s used in my family to describe the actions of a toddler who’s just getting into everything,

You know, crawling in the cupboards and mucking around in there,

Or pulling the contents of a drawer out faster than you can put them back.

Yeah, yeah.

But you can also be a potch.

Oh, really?

I was a pretty good potch.

They made me a t-shirt that said Super Potch.

Super Potch?

Wait, so if you’re a potch, what are you if you’re a potch?

You potch a lot, right?

You’re a potcher.

Yeah, it’s sort of an endearing term for a little kid who’s just getting into everything.

Who gets potch.

It’s somebody who gets potch.

But I think, Beth, you’re using it as potching around or something like that, right?

Yes, yes.

Wow.

Because here’s what I was thinking when you first brought it up.

There’s a Yiddish word, potch, sometimes spelled putch, but P-O-T-C-H, sometimes P-U-T-C-H,

That comes directly from German.

It means to smack or to hit or to bump or to knock or something like that.

But it’s also got a couple kind of weaker tendrils of meaning that have something to do with make a mess.

And this is what I’m thinking where this comes from.

So you’ve got a toddler running around knocking, hitting, and bumping things and making a mess.

But usually the way it’s used is like, I’m going to give you a pot on your bum if you don’t stop that.

Yeah, on your tuchus.

Yeah, on your tuchus, right?

So that’s really interesting that you guys have your own little variation on that.

I can’t say for certain, but I would bet that they’re related.

Yeah, that’s what I would think.

That’s really interesting.

They have to make a mess.

And if that’s German, I know we do have some German ancestry.

You know what we’re going to do?

This requires the etymology siren go on, Martha, and the lights start flashing.

I need to ask everybody listening if you use the word potch in the way that Beth uses it, right?

To refer to a person who just kind of, what is it, potters around and makes messes?

Is that what it is?

Yeah.

Okay, so it’s usually for a kid?

Yeah.

Can an adult be a potch?

I’ve never heard it used that way, but I don’t see why not.

So you’re not a super potch anymore is what you’re telling us.

Right, right.

Okay.

Well, maybe.

Well, maybe.

All right, Beth, we’re going to put the word out.

We’re going to find out what other people use if they use the word potch to refer to a kid who’s making a lot of messes, all right?

And we will report back on the air in a future episode, okay?

All right, great.

Well, thank you so much.

Yeah, sure.

Thanks for calling.

Call again sometime, all right?

Thanks for calling, Beth.

Okay, thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Potching around.

Yeah, I can just imagine.

I was thinking of my son when he used to shove his pizza into his milk cup and just, like,

Shove it up a nail with a spoon for, you know, ages.

He would just do this, potching, literally potching, and it was splashing everywhere.

And then he would eat it.

So gross.

Oh, gosh.

Chip off the old block is what we’re talking about here.

Oh, yeah, milk-soaked pizza.

That’s my thing.

We want to hear from you.

Do you use the word potching that way?

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Or send us your comments and email to words@waywordradio.org.