Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers as Kiese Laymon, who includes it in his memoir about growing up Black in Mississippi, Heavy (Bookshop|Amazon). The word’s origin is unclear, although it might have evolved from stark naked. This is part of a complete episode.
Another idea, which didn’t occur to me until later, is that “starnated” is just another form of “tarnation,” which is a euphemism of “damnation.” Tarnation possibly has its roots in “eternal” and possibly “infernal” as well as “damnation.” So a “starnated fool” is basically a damned fool or an “eternally damned” or “infernally damned” fool.
The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists...
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
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Another idea, which didn’t occur to me until later, is that “starnated” is just another form of “tarnation,” which is a euphemism of “damnation.” Tarnation possibly has its roots in “eternal” and possibly “infernal” as well as “damnation.” So a “starnated fool” is basically a damned fool or an “eternally damned” or “infernally damned” fool.