What’s the past tense of squeeze? Is it squeezed or squoze? While the former is the proper version, squoze is a real word used in several dialects. Ronald Reagan even used it in the 1980s. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Squoze”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi.
Hi, who’s this?
This is Yolani.
Hi, Yolani.
Oh, hi.
Welcome to the show.
Where are you calling from?
San Diego.
Okay, what can we do for you?
So my question is about the difference between squeezed and squoze, which is the proper past-tap to use.
And Yolani, why are you wondering about this one?
Well, funny is it started a while ago.
So I’ve always used squoze, and I know my mom uses squoze too, but I don’t know many other people who have.
And I said it once, and my friends were arguing with me, saying that, oh, that’s not the right word, that’s not even a word, and it’s supposed to be squeezed.
And then my mom actually wrote it down on her paperwork, and her coworkers also said the same thing.
She’s like, no, no, I’m pretty positive it’s a word.
But we couldn’t figure it out, and I’ve read that it is a word, and I’ve read that it isn’t a word.
And so we were just kind of wondering.
So you would say, I squoze some oranges into orange juice.
Yeah, or like, I squoze his hand hard, or she wrote it, he squoze my hand hard.
And that feels right to you in the same way that freeze and froze feel right to you.
Yeah, exactly.
Rather than we’ve freezed.
Yeah.
So when you see your boyfriend, you say, I squoze my squeeze.
Well, I never said it that way, but I just thought it would work.
And if you broke up with him, then he would be your squoze.
Yeah, that actually sounds pretty right, too.
So we have a verdict on this, don’t we, Martha?
Yeah, more or less, yeah.
I wonder if we agree.
I’m looking forward to this.
Well, let’s see.
Okay.
I would say squoze is sort of dialect, right?
It’s not the proper, proper version.
But it is a legitimate word.
Yeah, it’s a legitimate word.
You can use it in most circumstances, but if you’re writing formally, you should avoid it.
Or speaking formally.
Okay, so it is an actual word.
It’s an actual word with hundreds of years of history.
It pops up again and again in the U.K., in the U.S., among the Scots,
And all different kind of varieties of speech.
Even Ronald Reagan used it in the 1980s.
Yes, he did.
When he was talking about his cancer, I think.
Yes, and Yolani, did you read Winnie the Pooh when you were growing up?
I did, but I don’t think I remember it.
Well, it might have stuck in your mind, because there’s a story from Winnie the Pooh
Where Owl’s house blows over and all the animals are inside,
And the only one that can get out and save everybody is Piglet.
And there’s a line in there about he squeezed and he squoze,
And then with one last squoze, he was out.
Oh, no way. Okay.
Yeah, so that probably imprinted on your brain.
But it’s a real word.
Yeah, it’s real.
If you’re speaking in front of Congress, you probably don’t want to use it unless you are the president.
Ronald Reagan did.
He’s the president.
It’s a real word, and you can just thumb your nose at people who say that it isn’t.
Okay, perfect.
Thank you so much for that.
I can go back and, you know, prove I was right to my friends.
Yes, absolutely.
Of course.
Thanks for calling, Yolani.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
What’s really interesting about this word is it’s so naturally funny.
Squoze is one of those words.
It is, isn’t it?
It’s automatically humorous.
It is.
But it used to be used in vaudeville routines.
Did you know this?
No.
Yeah, so it starts showing up in these acts, these one-act plays that kind of make the rounds in the mid-1800s.
And it keeps popping up again and again in these lists of plays and these monologues that you can do.
And I have one of them here.
Okay.
Did you hear this?
Of course, yeah.
So one character says to another, he was so glad to see me, he took my hand and squoze it.
He did what?
He squoze it.
No, he squeezed your hand.
No, he squoze my hand.
I say he squeezed your hand.
No, sir, I can prove it squoze.
Don’t Murray say rise, rose, risen?
Yes.
Well, then it’s squeeze, squo, squizzin’.
Squizzin’.
And by Murray, they’re referring to James Murray, the Oxford English Dictionary editor.
That’s awesome.
They were referencing him in vaudeville?
That’s great.
Yeah, it was later.
It was more ery time, right?
But versions of this show up in the 1860s and the 1870s, and it’s still, this same exact
The script is still growing strong by the 1930s and 1940s.
How interesting.
I think it strikes me as a construction that a kid would come up with.
You know, like I eated my dinner or something.
You know, I think that’s why it strikes people that way, don’t you think?
I do, yeah.
But there’s actually no reason it necessarily should.
I mean, if you think of freeze and froze and your examples, that’s great.
Squeeze, squo, squizzin’.
