The honking of a family of geese wandering down to a nearby pond at 5:30 this morning was inspiring, what can I say? 😉
Goose, meaning the water fowl, is not surprisingly old–really old, as old as English. Interestingly, the word’s roots were not only for a goose, but for a swan, and is believed to be imitative on their honking.
From the 1540s onward, it’s carried a meaning of “simpleton” when applied to a person. Gooseflesh or goose skin (goosebumps) are from 1795 (for the skin variety) and 1810. From what I can gather, it comes from how a plucked fowl looks before you cook it. The more modern bumps variety didn’t come around until 1919.
As a verb, to be goosed meant, in 1818, to be jeered, particularly on stage. The, er, “poked in the rear” form of the verb, LOL, is from the 1880s, which is older than I expected!
Goose egg, meaning “zero,” is baseball slang from the 1860s, and to cook one’s goose is from 1845.
“Silly goose” is a favorite expression in our family–good to know where it comes from. 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.