Mary-Clare recalls that when she was growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, everyone she knew used the term hoosier as a kind of teasing pejorative. If someone did something silly, others would say You’re such a hoosier, the adjective hoozh, or jokingly...
Kyle in Fort Monroe, Virginia, says his family uses honyock for someone acting foolish or silly, especially politicians and bad drivers, and he wondered whether it carried older baggage. Variants include hunyak, hunyaker, and hunyokker. The word...
The Spanish word moco, or “mucus,” can be applied affectionately to a child, much like speakers of English may refer to a youngster as a little booger. In some dialects, moco has a more pejorative sense, suggesting a child is more along...
Karina in Jackson, Wyoming, wonders why a useful little hardware fastener became an insult. The political wingnut is a shortening of right-wing nut, with nut meaning someone thought to be out of their head or lacking common sense, the same idea as...
The terms mickey mouse and to mickey mouse can be used as pejoratives. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mickey Mouse as a Pejorative” Hi, you have A Way with Words. Hi, yes, how are you? My name is Timothy Wong, and hi...
A professional shoemaker in Columbiana, Ohio, wonders why the words cobbler and cobble have negative connotations, given that shoemaking is a highly skilled trade. The notion of cobbling something together in a haphazard or half-hearted way goes...
