Thanks to my astute vocabularian friend, Julie, I subscribe to "A Word A Day" online and receive boosts to my speaking and writing skills every day.
Today's arrived. It said the following:
hey rube
PRONUNCIATION:
(hay roob)
MEANING:
noun: 1. A fight between members of a circus and the general public. 2. A call to rally circus members in a fight.
ETYMOLOGY:
The term originated in the 19th century when circuses were rowdy affairs and Hey Rube was the rallying cry to call all circus people to help in a fight with townspeople. It's not clear whether Rube in this term was someone specific or simply a use of the informal term rube (shortened form of Reuben) for an unsophisticated person from a rural area.
It's always fun to try out new words. But I'm not sure there is ANY way to work "hey rube" into my typical conversations. I do have some outings planned yet for today, so I'll see what I can do.
1 comment:
You should train your kids to respond to that phrase. Like when you're someplace with a lot of other kids and everyone's getting rowdy it's their cue to calm down or something.
Post a Comment