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June 2007Word History of the Month: sardoodledomLast month's Scripps National Spelling Bee (the 80th) had plenty of tense moments, but it also had its share of laughs. One of the more humorous moments started with a fit of giggles from the 11-year-old contestant charged with spelling sardoodledom. The crowd laughed too and then cheered when he finally, and correctly, spelled the word. As you might expect, there is a story behind this word. Sardoodledom refers to "mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama" and is a blend of the last name of 19th-century French playwright Victorien Sardou, who was famously criticized by George Bernard Shaw for the staginess of his plays, and English doodle, plus the suffix "-dom." As a side note, Sardou is also responsible for another word in English — fedora. That word was originally the title of a drama he wrote in 1882. By 1891 it had become part of the language meaning "a soft felt hat with a low crown creased lengthwise." |