Don't Be a Jagoff

From the Slang to the Sublime

Perhaps the most misunderstood word in American slang is the iconic jagoff. For a start, it is not native to Chicago and it is not a vulgarity of any kind. Misuse of the expression has in fact been the cause of meaningful journalistic confusion for a long time. In 2012, David Shribman, a Massachusetts native and then-executive editor of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette banned the word at his newspaper. This was linguistically significant because Pittsburgh is its home. The decision was mocked by Chris Potter of the Pittsburgh City Paper, noting that Mr Shribman's letter to staff belied an utter lack of understanding of the etymology and history of the word, as he had confused it with the base homophone, "jack off", common slang for masturbation. As you’d expect, The Beaver County Times came up with a witheringly funny reply, which follows.