Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I've got a Webster's (American) dictionary, but I can't find the word "Cockamammy". Can anyone translate it? ?

Radio reports of Bangkok airport riots quoted an American passenger saying that the Thais were "having a cockamammy revolution here".I've got a Webster's (American) dictionary, but I can't find the word "Cockamammy". Can anyone translate it? ?
The definition given by Dalia M is correct, but the word's origin lies elsewhere- at least according to my research.



The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary states the etymology is "perhaps alteration of decalcomania" and dates its origin as 1960.



What in the world is decalcomania, you ask? Wikipedia states that it is "is a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other materials.." It is the origin of the word 'decal'. Paragraph 5 of the article states:

"In the 1950s and early 1960s, King Features Syndicate marketed a set of decalcomanias bearing full-color pictures of characters from King Features comic strips... Intended for young children who might have difficulty pronouncing or reading the word 'decalcomanias', these transfers were marketed as 'Cockamamies', a deliberate mispronunciation of that word. The term 'cockamamie' has entered the language with various slang meanings, usually denoting something that is wacky, strange or unusual."



Michael Quinion's website "World Wide Words" further corroborates the source of this Americanism, and Nancy Friedman's blog "Fritinancy" incorporates his writing to disprove any purported Yiddish origin.
Here's Webster's entry for that:



cockamamie (kake mame)

adj.

[Slang]

1 of poor quality; inferior

2 silly; ridiculous



Etymology

[alteration of decalcomania, prob. infl. by cock-a-nee-nee, 19th-c. name in New York for a cheap molasses candy]



(C)1995 ZCI Publishing, Inc. (C)1994, 1991, 1988 Simon %26amp; Schuster, Inc.

I've got a Webster's (American) dictionary, but I can't find the word "Cockamammy". Can anyone translate it? ?
the word it slang for bullshit or insignificant. In other words ... "having a fake or meaningless revolution."I've got a Webster's (American) dictionary, but I can't find the word "Cockamammy". Can anyone translate it? ?
"Cockamamie" is slang. It means crazy, or ridiculous.
ridiculous, pointless, or nonsensical: full of wild schemes and cockamamie ideas. from dictonary.com
Ludicrous, foolish

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