New retroacroetymythostupidnym

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:32:53 -0700, Jeff Prucher <wrote:

> Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:>
>> C'mon...with the mention of the term in another quote " It
>> usu.referred to support personnel holding soft rear-area jobs, like
>> clerk-typist," referring to a posterior position, it's obviously from
>> the Irish word "pogue" meaning "arse". :-) Cf. "poque mahone", The
>> Pogues, etc.
>
>No no no... "Pogue" is "kiss".  These personnel clearly got their cushy
>jobs by kissing up to their superiors.  If it was about their soft,
>squishy bottoms, they'd be called "mahons," and that would just be silly.
>(I know, I know -- "pogue" is the imperative, and I'm not really sure
>whether "mahon" is "ass" or "my ass" or what, but I really don't have
>time to try to make sense of Irish morphology.)

Here's what Safire had to say about a possible Irish derivation:

-----
New York Times, Jan. 1, 1984, Magazine, p. 6/3

In a recent piece drawn from the dinner-table talk at the home of John and
Annie Glenn, I reported that the Senator had used the word pogue to
describe "a rascally politician"; Lexicographic Irregulars were invited to
suggest derivations.

[snip stuff on "pogey bait", which we've already covered]

That etymology does not come readily to hand, but many Irish Lex Irregs
have pointed out that pogue is a Gaelic word for kiss : "There is an Irish
play called 'Arrah-na-Pogue,'" writes T. J. Moorehead of Norwich, N.Y.,
"by Dion Boucicault, set in County Wicklow in 1798. The heroine is known
as Arrah-na-Pogue (Arrah of the Kiss) because of the ingenious way by
which she smuggled escape plans to a rebel held in Wicklow jail." That is
a charming story, far better than the scatological Gaelic rhyming epithet
put forward by other correspondents, and contains the overtones of
political chicanery alluded to by Senator Glenn.
-----

He also discussed the name of the fish:

-----
Before leaving the etymology of pogue, let us admit to the possibility of
being totally off base. James Anderson of the V F W Magazine tossed in
this disconcerting afterthought: "I think it should be noted that the pogy
is a common fish on the Atlantic seaboard and dictionary references link
it with menhaden. No doubt pogey-bait, hence pogue, arose from the
worthlessness of the fish except as a source of oil or fertilizer. Combine
this with the large number of Marine Corps bases on either coast and you
have its probable origin."
-----


--Ben Zimmer