SOCKDOLAGER

[Dr. Goodword]

• sockdolager •

Pronunciation: sahk-dah-lê-jêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A conclusive blow, a knockout or knock-down punch. 2. A humdinger of a humdinger, the 800 lb. gorilla, something so exceptionally large and outstanding that it settles a question or issue.

Notes: Today's Good Word is another of those funny concoctions from early America. It has been around long enough that a verb, sockdolagize "to hit hard and finalize", has been created from it. When we need an adjective, the participle from this verb will do: sockdolagizing, as a sockdolagizing best-seller.

In Play: The basic sense of today's Good Word is a hard blow: "I could have given him a sockdolager when he called me a wimp." However, anything outstanding or one of a kind qualifies for today's Good Word: "I don't remember a thing but it must have been a sockdolager of a party because I woke up this morning with a sockdolager of a headache."

Word History: No one knows where this word came from. The Oxford English Dictionary surmises that it is a fanciful creation. It is a fanciful creation originating in the US—the American frontier at work again, no doubt. A good guess would be that it originated in doxologer, the common mispronunciation of doxology in New England way back when. This term was used in the 19th century for the word or line sung at the end of a hymn. This makes semantic sense since nothing is read or sung after this kind of 'doxologer'. Though we are not sure where the word came from, Etymonline reports that it might have been one of the last words that President Lincoln heard: "During the performance of Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, assassin John Wilkes Booth (who knew the play well) waited for the line, 'Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap,' and as the audience laughed, Booth fired the fatal shot. (Now let's thank Susan Ardith Lee for suggesting such a sockdolager of a Good Word.)

[LukeJavan8]

A fitting example on the anniversary of Ft. Sumpter.

[Slava]

A fitting example on the anniversary of Ft. Sumpter.

There's no "p" in the Fort, just as there shouldn't be in swimming. I never knew there was a sumpter, though.

sumpter — n (archaic) a packhorse, mule, or other beast of burden.

Fort Sumter –noun
a fort in SE South Carolina, in the harbor of Charleston: its bombardment by the Confederates opened the civil war on April 12, 1861.

[MTC]

If a fighter "pulls a punch" is that a "mockdolager?"

[MTC]

If a fighter "pulls a punch'" is that a "mockdolager?"

[MTC]

One, two combination!

[LukeJavan8]

Thanks I had the actor Jeremy Sumpter on my mind for
some reason.

[LukeJavan8]

If a fighter "pulls a punch'" is that a "mockdolager?"

Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) stoning: "Rockdolager"??

[Slava]

Violence in a pawnshop: hockdolager.

What you get from drinking too much dark beer: bockdolager.

When Leonard McCoy gets angry he might give you a docdolager.

[LukeJavan8]

Teen ager with acne: "pockdolager".

Unlocked bank vault: "Lockdolager".

Jokester: "Knock-knockdolager"

Broken clock: "tick-tockdolager".

{Sheese! !}

[LukeJavan8]

Humph. And I took part in that conversation too.

[bamaboy56]

Don't feel bad, Luke. I was tempted to join in, too. Glad I didn't.

[LukeJavan8]

I receive a number of "words of the day", and participate
in three commentary sites like this one, so one word in
one site is never found in others. Thanks for the empathy.
Rare on this site.