GWD: Snickerdoodle

The snickerdoodle embodies an aspect of gnomish wordsmithing coupled with cuisine. Is it an insidious effort on the part of gnomes to win people over through cookies? One can only wonder, but the word embodies gnomish syntax, first used in 1889, perhaps of German origin (although, like all things gnomish, this is uncertain, as you can see below). 

snick·er·doo·dle
n. of  uncertain origin

cookie made with butter, sugar, and flour that is rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking

The gnomish word-perversity is apparent in taking what's effectively a sugar cookie and giving it a name like "snickerdoodle" to convey a perhaps unearned degree of whimsy (again, always integral to the gnomish agenda).

Interestingly, Wikipedia offers some clues about the etymology of the word -- do note the bit about the "simple or foolish fellow" and "simply a nonsense word with no particular meaning" -- that's a smoking gnome gun, if you ask me.

GWD: Hornswoggle

I know the origin of this word: gnomes. Only a gnome would invent a word like "hornswoggle."

horn·swog·gle

tr.v. horn·swog·gled, horn·swog·gling, horn·swog·gles Chiefly Northern & Western U.S.

To bamboozle; deceive.

---

[Origin unknown.]

Our Living Language We do not know the origin of hornswoggle. We do know that it belongs to a group of "fancified" words that were particularly popular in the American West in the 19th century. Hornswoggle is one of the earliest, first appearing around 1829. It is possible that these words were invented to poke fun at the more "sophisticated" East. Some other words of this ilk are absquatulate, also first appearing in the 1820s, skedaddle, first attested in 1861 in Missouri, and discombobulate, first recorded in 1916.

GWD: Dillydally

Another gnomish nonsense compound that I had overlooked, likely because I was dillydallying. They can strip out the hyphen, but the gnomish aesthetic remains intact...

dil·ly·dal·ly

Pronunciation: \ˈdi-lē-ˌda-lē\

Function: intransitive verb

Etymology: reduplication of dally

Date: 1741

: to waste time by loitering or delaying : dawdle

GWD: Hoity-Toity

And you thought I'd been kidnapped by gnomes, right? It's interesting that the second definition of hoity-toity has come to largely dominated the popular understanding, overlooking the original, decidedly gnomish nature of the word.

¹hoi·ty–toi·ty

Pronunciation: \ˌhȯi-tē-ˈtȯi-tē, ˌhī-tē-ˈtī-tē\

Function: noun

Etymology: rhyming compound from English dial. hoit to play the fool

Date: 1668

: thoughtless giddy behavior


²hoi·ty–toi·ty

Pronunciation: \ˌhȯi-tē-ˈtȯi-tē, ˌhī-tē-ˈtī-tē\

Function: noun

Etymology: rhyming compound from English dial. hoit to play the fool

Date: 1668

:1 thoughtlessly silly or frivolous: FLIGHTY 2 marked by an air of assumed importance: HIGHFALUTIN

GWD: Shilly-Shally

You thought I had run out of nonsense hyphenated compounds? Not yet! And, as ever, the gnomish values of sowing confusion and uncertainty among human ranks remain intact with this word, as with so many of the others. This one is particularly egregious, since it sounds like you're drunkenly saying your friend Sally is being silly...

shilly–shally

Pronunciation: \ˈshi-lē-ˌsha-lē\

Function: adverb

Etymology: irregular reduplication of shall I

Date: 1700

: in an irresolute, undecided, or hesitating manner

GWD: Riffraff

Again, they might take away the hyphen, but the pattern remains: gnomespeak. Gnomish riffraff with their word-wankery.

riff·raff

Pronunciation: \ˈrif-ˌraf\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English ryffe raffe, from rif and raf every single one, from Anglo-French rif e raf altogether

Date: 15th century

1 a : disreputable persons b : rabble c : one of the riffraff
2 : refuse, rubbish

— riffraff adjective

GWD: Hocus Pocus

Gnomes are masters of hocus pocus. You have been warned! And notice the tie-in with juggling? Coincidence? I think NOT!

ho·cus–po·cus

Pronunciation: \ˌhō-kəs-ˈpō-kəs\

Function: noun

Etymology: probably from hocus pocus, imitation Latin phrase used by jugglers

Date: 1647

1 : sleight of hand
2 : nonsense or sham used especially to cloak deception

GWD: Mumbo Jumbo

While this one has some provenance, it is squarely in the gnomish linguistic set, embodying gnomish values (especially meanings 2 and 3)...

mum·bo jum·bo

Pronunciation: \ˌməm-bō-ˈjəm-(ˌ)bō\

Function: noun

Etymology: Mumbo Jumbo, a masked figure among Mandingo peoples of western Africa

Date: 1738

1 : an object of superstitious homage and fear
2 a : a complicated often ritualistic observance with elaborate trappings b : complicated activity or language usually intended to obscure and confuse
3 : unnecessarily involved and incomprehensible language : gibberish
4 : language, behavior, or beliefs based on superstition

GWD: Itty-Bitty

In addition to being roly-poly, gnomes are itty-bitty. They are itsy-bitsy, too, while we're at it. This one's a latecomer to gnomespeak, but holds to the conventions of the language.

it·ty–bit·ty
Pronunciation: \ˈi-tē-ˈbi-tē\

Variant(s): or it·sy–bit·sy \ˈit-sē-ˈbit-sē\

Function: adjective

Etymology: probably from baby talk for little bit

Date: 1938

: extremely small : tiny

GWD: Roly-Poly

You probably thought I'd finished with the gnomish hyphenated nonsense words, didn't you? Not by a longshot! This one is particularly useful because it actually describes the gnomish physique rather nicely...

ro·ly–po·ly

Pronunciation: \ˌrō-lē-ˈpō-lē\

Function: adjective

Etymology: reduplication of roly, from ²roll

Date: 1820

: being short and pudgy : rotund

GWD: Abracadabra

The archetypal "magic word" is, yes, gnomish. The annoying, mumbo-jumbo way of it is just gnome to the bone. Likely a gnome long ago got some poor human to trade their cows for that "magic word" and off they flew.

ab·ra·ca·dab·ra

Pronunciation: \ˌa-brə-kə-ˈda-brə\

Function: noun

Etymology: Late Latin

Date: 1565

1 : a magical charm or incantation
2 : unintelligible language

GWD: Bugaboo

You know what gnomes are scared of? Bugaboos. That's right. Of course they are. And you see the unknown etymology of "bugaboo?" It's because it's from the gnomes, like so many of those words. The reference to bugbears is curious, as I'm sure bugbears would gladly eat gnomes if presented with them. A glimpse into the gnomish world, since one can know a people by what they fear as well as what they value -- gnomes clearly fear bugbears. Good to know.

bug·a·boo

Pronunciation: \ˈbə-gə-ˌbü\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural bug·a·boos

Etymology: earlier buggybow, bugger-bo, of unknown origin

Date: 1598

1 : an imaginary object of fear
2 : bugbear 2; also : something that causes fear or distress out of proportion to its importance

GWD: Hullabaloo

Gnomes. Although it's interesting to imagine Scots saying "balloo" to hush children.

hul·la·ba·loo
Pronunciation: \ˈhə-lə-bə-ˌlü\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural hul·la·ba·loos

Etymology: perhaps from hallo + Scots balloo, interjection used to hush children

Date: 1762

: din; also : uproar

GWD: Claptrap

Again, the gnomes aced the hyphen to try to "humanize" this word, but I know gnomespeak when I hear it and see it.

clap·trap

Pronunciation: \ˈklap-ˌtrap\

Function: noun

Etymology: ²clap; from its attempt to win applause

Date: 1799

: pretentious nonsense : trash

GWD: Gewgaw

This is one that likely had a hyphen, but gnomes axed it. Origin unknown? Gnomes, dammit. It's just so obvious (and the meaning of it is very gnomish, too).

gew·gaw

Pronunciation: \ˈg(y)ü-(ˌ)gȯ\

Variant(s): also gee·gaw \ˈjē-, ˈgē-\

Function: noun

Etymology: origin unknown

Date: circa 1529

: a showy trifle : bauble, trinket

GWD: Higgledy-Piggledy

You may have noticed that I sometimes do more than one Gnomish Word of the Day (GWD). That's right. It's deliberate. Because it's gnomish to be capricious that way. Some days there may be only one GWD. Some days there may be four. You can never really know. And that's exactly what makes gnomes so fucking creepy, them being all higgledy-piggledy!

hig·gle·dy–pig·gle·dy

Pronunciation: \ˌhi-gəl-dē-ˈpi-gəl-dē\

Function: adverb

Etymology: origin unknown

Date: 1598

: in a confused, disordered, or random manner

— higgledy–piggledy adjective

Origin unknown, yet hearkening to the 16th century? Gnomes. You can almost see their curly-toed shoe tracks on this one.

GWD: Topsy-Turvy

You know I'm not done with gnomish hyphenated nonsense compounds yet, yes? It seems that there was a lot of gnomish influence on human language in the 16th century...

top·sy–tur·vy
Pronunciation: \ˌtäp-sē-ˈtər-vē\

Function: adverb

Etymology: probably ultimately from tops (plural of ¹top) + obsolete English terve to turn upside down

Date: 1528

1 : in utter confusion or disorder
2 : with the top or head downward : upside down

Plenty more where that came from.

And, once again, you can see that gnomes are fond of causing confusion and delay.

GWD: Flibbertigibbet

This one, again, is self-explanatory, although it's nice to know that there's an adjectival version of it! How flibbertigibbety! Still, it's important to get these words (and the sentiments behind them) out and about. Note that the old age of this word points to the more directly gnomish nature of this word...

flib·ber·ti·gib·bet

Pronunciation: \ˌfli-bər-tē-ˈji-bət\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English flepergebet

Date: 15th century

: a silly flighty person

— flib·ber·ti·gib·bety \-bə-tē\ adjective

GWD: Knickknack

And, while we're on the subject of unhyphenated nonsense compounds, here's another gnomish knickknack for you...

knick·knack
Variant(s): also nick·nack \ˈnik-ˌnak\

Function: noun

Etymology: reduplication of knack

Date: 1682

: a small trivial article usually intended for ornament

In this case, the gnomes probably got rid of the hyphen JUST to be annoying, since those two k's butting up against each other practically cry out for hyphenation, don't they? Or maybe it would just be too stilted for the folksy frolics of gnomish knick-knackery.

GWD: Hodgepodge

In "hodgepodge," the gnomes got a little trickier, perhaps, realizing that if they hyphenated all of their nonsensically-redundant words, we'd be onto them. So, they went with a closed compound, here, but the gnomishness (and gnomish sentiments) remain intact...

hodge·podge
Pronunciation: \ˈhäj-ˌpäj\
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of hotchpotch
Date: 15th century

: a heterogeneous mixture : jumble