snallygaster
Jan. 11th, 2016 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordOkay, back to posting -- a little late because of holiday crud. Starting with:
snallygaster (snah-lee-GAS-tur) - n., a mythical beast, part-bird and part-reptile preying on poultry and children, of rural Maryland.
More specifically, the hills of Frederick County, north of Washington, DC. The area was settled by German farmers, and by the 1730s there were reports of a "schnelle Geist," or "quick spirit." -- but the first recorded English use isn't until 1940. The snollygoster (a shrewd, unprincipled person, esp. a politician) possibly gets its name from this, though it's recorded from 1846.
---L.
snallygaster (snah-lee-GAS-tur) - n., a mythical beast, part-bird and part-reptile preying on poultry and children, of rural Maryland.
More specifically, the hills of Frederick County, north of Washington, DC. The area was settled by German farmers, and by the 1730s there were reports of a "schnelle Geist," or "quick spirit." -- but the first recorded English use isn't until 1940. The snollygoster (a shrewd, unprincipled person, esp. a politician) possibly gets its name from this, though it's recorded from 1846.
---L.
