Words, Words, Words

Mel Gibson as the melancholy Dane in
Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 film of the play

You fans of Hamlet will recognize the title of this post--it's the Prince's snarky reply when Polonius asks him what he's reading.

Anyway, in recent years I've noticed how often it occurs that when I'm reading something--or hearing something--or saying something, an insistent question arrives in my head: Where did that come from?

An annoying new habit--which (I must be honest and true) is one of Joyce's, too.

A couple of recent examples:

• The other day, out of the blue, while we were eating supper, Joyce asked me if my brothers and I ever punched one another. (She has no brothers, or she would never have bothered to ask that one!) I told her that it happened all the time, but one really stuck out: a 1959 family car trip out to Oregon to visit my dad's family. The three brothers sat in the back seat. Little brother, Davi, 10 at the time, suddenly reached over and punched my older brother, Richard (17 at the time), squarely in the face. Richard, who, I believe, was reading Warlock, a 1958 Western by Oakley Hall, flared and struck back (not nearly so effectively), and Dad, driving, chastised a "college student" for "hitting a fifth grader." One of the truly lovely moments from my boyhood (I was 14).
• Anyway, I told Joyce the story and used the term coldcocked for what Davi had done. We looked at each other: Where did that come from?
• I checked the dictionary sites on my iPhone: None had an origin story--not even the OED.
• So, this morning, I checked The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. Nope: No origin--though it traces it back to 1918. No help from other slang sources I have. Oh well: Something St. Peter will have to explain to me later just before he pulls the DOWN lever.
• This morning, reading, I came across the word flabbergasted. Hmmmm ...
• Checked the OED and other sites--just speculation about the origins. Random House, tracing it to 1772, suggests it might be a combination of flabby and aghast. But I fear I don't see the connection.

So ... a couple of frustrating days for my origin-searches.

I know that the only solution to this galloping mania is to stop reading, listening, and talking--all activities that Nature eventually will provide for all of us!