|
|
#99187
03/21/2003 3:37 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Apparently t;he etymology thereof cannot be found. A couple places expressed possibility it had something to do with dagger ahndle, meaning person described was so angry he was tempted to draw it out of sheath. Quinion didn't have entry for it, but mentioned "humdudgeon" = and imaginary illness. No connection that I can see.
|
|
|
#99188
03/21/2003 4:17 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Its interesting that it is invariably paired with 'high' as in "he left in high dudgeon". I don't think I have ever seen it used on its own or paired with any word other than high. Is dudgeon on its own insufficiently extreme?
|
|
|
#99189
03/21/2003 4:36 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Actually, dxb, I went back and looked at the WAD and the first quote doesn't precede it with "high":
Germany's trade unions are in a state of considerable dudgeon about plans to cut state spending and squeeze the welfare state. The dudgeon will grow if more deficit-cutting consigns more of their members to the ranks of the unemployed."
Brian Beedham, Why Kohl Should Accept Postponement of Monetary Union, The International Herald Tribune (France), Apr 8, 1997.
It's actually used twice without "high". It's a word I didn't know until today, though I recall reading it before and not bothering to look it up. (I'm sure there's a Worthless Word for this habit.)
|
|
|
#99190
03/25/2003 2:55 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
It's a word I didn't know until today, though I recall reading it before and not bothering to look it up. (I'm sure there's a Worthless Word for this habit.)
I started to give this some thought but.. it would have to be blantantly obvious or else, if it somehow managed to get in a dictionary, no one that it applied to would ever bother to look it up.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,917
Posts230,525
Members9,211
| |
Most Online17,319
Apr 8th, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
|
