英语词汇dingbat的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

dingbat; dingus, etc. Dingbat, a favorite expression of Archie Bunker’s, is American in origin, going back to at least 1861, when it meant “anything that can be thrown with force or dashed violently at another object,” according to Farmer’s Americanisms (1899). The word possibly derives from bat, “a piece of wood or metal,” and ding, “to throw.” But dingbat came to be used in describing anything of which the proper name is unknown to or forgotten by a speaker, much as we more fre- quently use such meaningless words as thingamabob (an exten- sion of the word thing that goes back to the late 17th century), thingamajig, dingus, doohickey, whatsit, and other infixes. A fa- ther describing how to assemble a complicated piece of equip- ment, such as a child’s toy, might say: “You put this thingamajig into this doohickey and tighten this doodad and this thingama- bob; then you take this dingus over here near this gismo and at- tach it to this hickeymadoodle so that it barely touches the thin- gamadoodle there near the whatchamacallit—then you have to grease it up with this jeesalamsylborax or the damn dingbat won’t work!” Dingbat has also served over the years as a slang term for “a gadget, money, buns or biscuits, a woman, and a hobo or bum.” But Archie Bunker’s contemptuous use of the word for a “nut,” an ineffectual, bumbling fool (that is, anyone he doesn’t agree with), may come directly from the Australian dingbats, meaning “eccentric or mad.” Dingbats are also the small marks and printers’ decorations used in publishing.

词汇	dingbat
词源	dingbat; dingus, etc. Dingbat, a favorite expression of Archie Bunker’s, is American in origin, going back to at least 1861, when it meant “anything that can be thrown with force or dashed violently at another object,” according to Farmer’s Americanisms (1899). The word possibly derives from bat, “a piece of wood or metal,” and ding, “to throw.” But dingbat came to be used in describing anything of which the proper name is unknown to or forgotten by a speaker, much as we more fre- quently use such meaningless words as thingamabob (an exten- sion of the word thing that goes back to the late 17th century), thingamajig, dingus, doohickey, whatsit, and other infixes. A fa- ther describing how to assemble a complicated piece of equip- ment, such as a child’s toy, might say: “You put this thingamajig into this doohickey and tighten this doodad and this thingama- bob; then you take this dingus over here near this gismo and at- tach it to this hickeymadoodle so that it barely touches the thin- gamadoodle there near the whatchamacallit—then you have to grease it up with this jeesalamsylborax or the damn dingbat won’t work!” Dingbat has also served over the years as a slang term for “a gadget, money, buns or biscuits, a woman, and a hobo or bum.” But Archie Bunker’s contemptuous use of the word for a “nut,” an ineffectual, bumbling fool (that is, anyone he doesn’t agree with), may come directly from the Australian dingbats, meaning “eccentric or mad.” Dingbats are also the small marks and printers’ decorations used in publishing.
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