Gizmo - Language Stories - Language
| GIZMO | ||
World Wide Words  |
A letter to its webmaster, written on Oct 12, 2004: |
Hi! I'm writing from Madrid, Spain. I'm an English teacher here. I think "gizmos" comes from Spanish. Like "hoosegow" (sorry if I mispelled it!). It'd come from "chismes", which has several meanings but one is "gadgets". I didn't know who to tell!, hahahahah, so here it goes! Thanks for your page! michelle, Madrid, Spain |
| Reply, Oct 14, 2004 | Thank you for your message. It's impossible to say for sure where"gizmo" comes from, though it is first recorded in late 1942 as US Marine Corps slang. I can't judge how likely it is that there was any significant Spanish influence in the Corps at the time. -- Michael Quinion. Editor, World Wide Words E-mail: < editor@worldwidewords.org > Web: < http://www.worldwidewords.org/ > |
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| Reply, same date | Hello again! |
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