# Hornswoggled!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 24, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232 "2007-01-24T13:43:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/1 "2007-01-24T13:43:40Z")

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What an excellent word! We all need to start using it more often – hey, we live in a world of Nigerian email scams – it’s not exactly a defunct concept.

I was looking it up, curious about the etymology (“unknown,” natch) – and [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hornswoggled&r=66) has the following:

[[QUOTE=dictionary.com](http://QUOTE=dictionary.com)]  
Our Living Language : We do not know the origin of hornswoggle. We do know that it belongs to a group of “fancified” words that were particularly popular in the American West in the 19th century. \*Hornswoggle \* is one of the earliest, first appearing around 1829. It is possible that these words were invented to poke fun at the more “sophisticated” East. Some other words of this ilk are _absquatulate,_ also first appearing in the 1820s, _skedaddle_, first attested in 1861 in Missouri, and \*discombobulate, \* first recorded in 1916.  
[/quote]

All delightful words – but let’s start with “hornswoggle.” If we all make a point of using it at least once a week, it will inevitably resume its rightful place in American vocabulary. (And British and Aussie as well, no doubt.)

C’mon, gang! Who’s with me on this?  
Bueller? Anyone?

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/2 "2007-01-24T13:46:51Z")

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“Well dagnabbit, I’ll be hornswaggled”

Happy now?

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/3 "2007-01-24T13:47:54Z")

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…and hornsw **o** ggled as well :smack:

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/4 "2007-01-24T13:49:53Z")

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[QUOTE=chowder]  
“Well dagnabbit, I’ll be hornswaggled”

Happy now?  
[/QUOTE]

Skedaddle outta here and say it to a coworker and I’ll be tickled pink.

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**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/5 "2007-01-24T14:01:51Z")

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Funny, **twickster** , I though you were out of the cryptic crossword business. Or have you been hornswoggling us all this time about the garden magazine?

I _think_ I used the word-of-the-day properly.

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hornswoggled/389232/6 "2007-01-24T14:18:13Z")

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You did indeed, **Scuba Ben**.

And no, I’m no hoodwinking bamboozler – the garden mag is for real: the second issue just came out and looks great. Yay us!