tumshie

tumshie n. a stupid or foolish person. Etymological Note: Originally jocular or colloquial Scots for ‘turnip.’ Common insult tumshie-head and other comparisons of a head to a turnip probably preceded the stand-alone tumshie. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Big Dog (episode #1610)

If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of life. Plus, language development in toddlers: why and how little ones pick up the exclamation Uh-oh! And a new...

Cheese Toasties (episode #1683)

If you mistype something, that’s a typo. But what do you call it when your voice-to-text program mistypes as you’re dictating? Is that a mico, as in microphone? Plus, the word sycophant has a long and surprising history that goes all the way back to...