Double George

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Andrew Bartholet from Omaha, Nebraska.

Hi, Andrew. Welcome to the show. What can we do for you?

I was curious about a word, George, that my grandfather uses to describe something that’s exceptionally good or something where everything about it was good or really great.

George? Isn’t the name George?

Yeah, it’s spelled with game. It can be used like double George. Sometimes he’ll say double George, so if something’s incredibly just over the top, and every once you try it or every once you taste it, he’ll say it’s double George. He usually uses it to describe restaurants or food that he’s eating.

Okay, and he’s still around, grandfather?

Oh, yeah, he is. He’s still around, still as colorful as ever.

Colorful as ever. How old is he?

He is about 75 now, I believe. I was asking because this particular slang word goes back to the early 1900s, but it really fell out of fashion after the 1950s. So I’m really surprised to hear it in his vocabulary or have you telling us about it because it’s really not been that common at all.

But there was a time in the early 1900s where it pops up in, say, glossaries of hobo language as a thing you might say. And it was synonymous with something could be Jake. You maybe even heard that one more often than George. If a situation is Jake, it’s also George, which means good or pleasant or acceptable. Usually, it’s not quite excellent. It just means it passes muster to a certain degree and isn’t a complete failure.

So he’s obviously around in the 50s, but I don’t think he’s really used the word for a while. He’s been kind of nostalgic lately and is remembering a lot of the things that he used to say back in the day with his buddies and everything. He’s Italian-American, and he grew up in Little Italy in Omaha and has lots of memories from those days.

There’s a linguistics textbook from the 1970s that talks about George being used as secret language in casinos to refer to a high roller or a good tipper who was coming through. So here comes George. It’s possibly a descendant of the much older George used in the hobo language. And also in a collection of Groucho Marx’s letters in the 1950s, he uses it. And so it had some currency.

But the last real use of it I see is like the 1970s. But really, that was the tail end of it. Its heyday was the 1950s. Now, it’s funny you mention that because that seems kind of more plausible of an origin of his kind of use of the word. Because gambling was really big around here back in the day, and he and his uncles and everyone was a gambler in the family and in the neighborhood back in the day.

So maybe that’s sort of where he learned the word, and that’s where his understanding of it comes from. That’s great. I love that you threw in that extra tidbit. Maybe he picked it up from his time playing in the casinos.

Well, Andrew, it sounds like another conversation to have with him.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny. Every time he comes up with a new story or a new word or something like that, it doesn’t cover so much more. He’s full of surprises, and he’s always full of good stories, too. And we love to sit around the dining table over holidays and just listen to him tell all his funny stories. We’re usually just rolling with tears in our eyes laughing so much. He’s hilarious.

Oh, that’s nice. Well, Andrew, you’ve got to call us again sometime once you get some more.

Yeah, definitely. I will. Thank you so much for helping me out with that word, George.

Yeah, sure. Take care. I really appreciate it.

Sure. Give him our best.

Will do. Bye-bye.

Okay. Bye-bye.

Bye. It’s even more than that. I’m looking in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang. It’s not just that George means good or acceptable and Jake and Tom, but also Jerry. It’s all these different words have meant okay or hunky-dory or copacetic.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Okay. No Betsy or Janet?

Nothing like that. This particular part of slang, that’s another whole part of slang. You know, I had a light bulb moment when I discovered the origin of the word George years ago.

The name George?

Yeah. It comes from Greek words that mean farmer. If you think about it, it’s earth worker, like the geo is like geo, geographical and all that. And the erg is from Greek for working.

Ergonomics.

Exactly. Urgative, yeah. Exactly. Earth worker. Or ergs. I think there’s a measurement of power or force called an erd, right?

Yes.

Yes. That’s cool. George is an earth worker or a farmer. 877-929-9673.