LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.05 (09) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 05 June 2009 - Volume 09
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Marsha, you asked:

I'm curious about the origin and meaning of the word "peawadden," as in
"that scared the peawadden out of me."
Any ideas?

I can't find any etymological references for it at the moment, but I do have
a vague theory at least.

Looking at the context, it seems to be a "replacement" word for a word that
is not socially acceptable, typically considered either obscene or
blasphemous. Usually the first letter is a give-away. (Take your pick!)

At any rate, replacement words ("euphemisms" isn't the correct word) tend to
be chosen so as to be silly, nonsensical in the contexts within which they
are used, such as "bloody" for older "by our Lady", or "flippin'" or
"friggin'" for you-know-what.

So what might the meaning of "peawadden" or "pea-wadden" or "pea wadden" be?

Enter my theory, going back generations to the time of early European
settlement in America. And the expression seems to be American, or perhaps
rather *preserved* in American English.

Besides a type of edible legume, "pea" can stand for "pea-coat" or
"pea-jacket", known since the 18th century. This is supposed to go back to
Early Dutch *piejacke* > *pijjak*, a double-breasted sailor's jacket made
from *pie* > *pij*, a coarse type of fabric. (In Low Saxon we say *Piejack*
.)

Furthermore, I theorize that "wadden" comes from "waddin'", thus "wadding".
We are thus talking about a type of garment padding.

Go wad your pea with that!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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