# How did the word jail get the nickname "pokey"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 5, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016 "2000-09-05T00:24:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016/21 "2023-11-16T04:06:03Z")

</div>

Very likely.

Many dictionaries use the spelling “hoosegow”, which is weird. That seems to be a British spelling, but the word is definitely an Americanism.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016/22 "2023-11-16T07:59:37Z")

</div>

> [@teelabrown](#):
>
> I was just thinking of asking how the term “in stir” came about.

Maybe related to “porridge” as a slang term for imprisonment? Or the crank handle hard labour prisoners had to turn so many times a day?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016/23 "2023-11-16T08:09:25Z")

</div>

“23 years later”

I mean, good grief!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016/24 "2023-11-16T20:14:03Z")

</div>

> [@PatrickLondon](#):
>
> > [@teelabrown](#):
> >
> > I was just thinking of asking how the term “in stir” came about.
> 
> Maybe related to “porridge” as a slang term for imprisonment? Or the crank handle hard labour prisoners had to turn so many times a day?

That’s what I would have guessed too, but according to Eric Partridge it may be the other way around. Re: stir

> An abbreviation of Romany _stardo_, ‘imprisoned’, ot more likely _staripen_, loosely _stariben_ or _sturiben_, a prison.

(A Dictionary of Underworld Slang.)

In The Concise Dictionary Of Slang he says of porridge

> Perhaps suggested, in part at least, by the semantics of S.E. _stir_, by a pun on _stir_, a prison.

And that’s what we have Eric Partridge for.

j

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-word-jail-get-the-nickname-pokey/32016.md?page=1)