Raunchy
Doug from Traverse City asked about the word raunchy. Originally, it
meant sloppy and unkempt. It then came to mean bawdy and off-color. Most
dictionaries declare that its origin is unknown. It first shows up in print in
the 1930s, and it may have been Army-Air Corps slang—a reference to an
improperly worn or cared-for uniform.
The word has a number of interesting synonyms and near-synonyms, a
testimony to a sophomoric tendency to tell off-color jokes.
· bawdy: < Old French baud, licentious
· lascivious:
< Latin lascivia, licentious
· obscene: <
Latin obscenus, lewd
· scatological:
< Greek root skat-, dung
· risqué: <
French risqué, unsuitable
· salacious: <
Latin salax, lustful, “fond of
leaping upon”
· ribald: <
Old French riber, to indulge in
pleasure
· licentious:
< Latin licentia, license, in the
sense of excessive permissiveness
Listen to Mike’s program in real
time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com
and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll
also find about a month’s worth of podcasts there under The Ron Jolly Show.
Comments