Work Brickle, Work Brittle

Rebecca in Jackson, Tennessee, says her mother-in-law would describe people unwilling to work as not work brickle. The word brickle has long meant “brittle,” is probably a word of Germanic origin and an etymological relative of the word break. The expression work brickle has meant both “eager to work” and “lazy,” although the “reluctant to work” meaning is now the predominant one. This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show

Boodle on Beaver Island

A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...

Recent posts