gomerel

Nov. 6th, 2014 07:57 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
gomerel (GOM-er-uhl) - n., (Scot. & N. Eng.) a stupid foolish person, a blockhead.


With a strong connotation of having just done something very dumb. A good word to bite off that stressed first syllable with. The standard etymology is from gome, man (from Old English guma, cognate with Latin homo) plus the diminutive/pejorative ending -rel, but one source claims a Scots verb goam, to stare around vacantly, also ancestor of gormless.

---L.

Date: 2014-11-06 09:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] movingfinger.livejournal.com
Comparing it to words like "wastrel," etc., the second derivation seems more likely...

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