# Etymology of "goon"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-goon/444715 "2008-04-10T01:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-goon/444715/1 "2008-04-10T01:52:11Z")
The word “goon” is frequently used to describe thugs and strongarm guys. Does anybody know whe the word first appeared? is it still in common usage? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-goon/444715/2 "2008-04-10T01:57:45Z")
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: goon 1921, “stupid person,” from gony “simpleton” (c.1580), of unknown origin, but applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (1839); sense of “hired thug” first recorded 1938 (in ref. to union “beef squads” used to cow strikers in the Pacific northwest), probably from Alice the Goon, slow-witted and muscular (but gentle-natured) character in “Thimble Theater” comic strip (starring Popeye) by E.C. Segar (1894-1938). She also was the inspiration for British comedian Spike Milligan’s “The Goon Show.” What are now “juvenile delinquents” were in the 1940s sometimes called goonlets. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-goon/444715/3 "2008-04-10T04:23:28Z")
yes, it is still used quite a bit on the internet in reference to members of [somethingawful.com](http://somethingawful.com)