Yesterday in a shop when I caught a glimpse of meself in a full-length mirror, the phrase “old coot” leapt to mind. This occasioned the kind of journey I often take - hunting word origins. In this case, I learnt about cooter, koochie, cooch, cooties, vag and, well, you get the idea. I started doing this in childhood. I was and am endlessly dazzled with what one discovers about history, fashion, fads, attitudes, social mores and, well, you get the idea. It used to require a phalanx of dictionaries, because they so often feature variations on a theme. My favourite remains the OED, which cites the earliest usage examples. Etymology, a proper academic discipline, is linguistic detective work and it’s irresistible.
© 2024 John Oliver
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