maybe a gambit to check on who is listening properly!

BTW, does that etymology perhaps also produce patsy, as in 'the fall-guy'? Although AHD says otherwise, they seem far from sure of their preferred origin:

pat·sy (păt'sē)
n. Slang., pl. -sies.
A person easily taken advantage of, cheated, blamed, or ridiculed.

[Perhaps from Italian pazzo, fool, from Old Italian paccio.]


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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Does the OED2 have anything to add?