# "I was just Joshin' ya"...?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-just-joshin-ya/437847>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 16, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-just-joshin-ya/437847 "2008-02-16T01:42:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-just-joshin-ya/437847/1 "2008-02-16T01:42:07Z")

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I came across a story about the origin of the phrase “I was just Joshin’ ya”. It had to do with the racketeer nickel of 1883. Apparently the fellow who started the craze of gold plating 1883 liberty nickels and passing them as $5 coins was named Josh, and at some point when the cops caught on, the suspect would tell the cops “I was just Joshin’ ya”.

Is there any truth to that story? I know the gold plating scheme is true, but what about the Joshin’ part?

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-just-joshin-ya/437847/2 "2008-02-16T02:17:15Z")

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[The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/011405.html#josh) says:

> [@](#):
>
> More likely, “to josh” meaning “to joke” derived from the popular (among city dwellers) view of “Joshua” as a typical rural name in the 19th century, much as “hick” (from Richard) and “rube” (from Reuben) arose. To “josh,” then, was originally to treat someone as an unsophisticated, gullible bumpkin who might well fall for a ridiculous story or silly joke.

He mentions a different possible origin too, if you want to check it out.