# Origin of the term "JOSHING" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289 "2000-11-01T20:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![true\_virgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@true\_virgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/true_virgo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/1 "2000-11-01T20:05:00Z")
Greetings all! To help fight the never ending battle against ignorance… Can anyone shed any light on the origin of the term “Joshing”? For example: Cecil joshingly proposed the Naughty Aughties in 1988. Ref: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_161.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_161.html) While I understand its meaning, why the name Josh? Thanks in advance to all! Cheers, The True Virgo ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/2 "2000-11-01T21:47:42Z")
Welcome to da board, Virgo. According to its entry at the [Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/070698.html#joshing), it is probably based on the fact that back when the term was coined (c. 1852) the name Joshua was a typically rural name. It’s based on the stereotype that rural folk are more easily fooled or tricked. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/3 "2000-11-01T23:37:48Z")
I’ve heard various times it was named for a man named Josh who was one of the people who gold-plated nickels to pass them off as $5 coins (they looked similar, and the nickels didn’t say “CENTS” on them until a few years later). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/4 "2000-11-02T00:03:14Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve heard various times it was named for a man named Josh who was one of the people who gold-plated nickels to pass them off as $5 coins (they looked similar, and the nickels didn’t say “CENTS” on them until a few years later). That’s the story they’re stating as fact on The History Channel (or A&E) in the program about counterfeiting. “Josh” didn’t use gold-plated 5-cent pieces though. He dusted the coins with a few cents worth of gold. According to the program, he had “a perfect alibi”. He was deaf and mute. He never _said_ his coins were $5 coins. He just handed them over and the counterman gave change for a five. IIRC, he was convicted, searved a short term, and then disappeared. In any case, this is the point where the program states that “joshing” comes from this person. No idea if it’s true, though. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/5 "2000-11-02T00:33:12Z")
“Josh” was a pseudonym Samuel Clemens used for some humorous newspaper columns early in his career (ca. 1862). I always wondered if the word didn’t come from this pseudonym, but if the word was coined ca. 1852, I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/6 "2000-11-02T02:45:21Z")
Here’s the facts on the gold plated nickels. The US started making something called a “V” nickel, also called a Liberty head nickel, in 1883. They had no denomination on them, save the Roman numeral five(V). The head on the front resembled the Liberty head on the $5 gold coin of the period. Now, some clever person started gold-plating these nickels, and paying for purchases with them, hoping that some poor careless soul would give them back change from $5. I’m quite sure this happened. But this didn’t happen until 1883! So, the Josh reference couldn’t have come from this. The 1852 reference uses the term "jossin’ " you. There is an earlier reference from 1845, which says…"and if you must _Josh_, why, give a private one. But, in any event, the origin has nothing to do with the coins. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-joshing/39289/7 "2000-11-02T05:10:38Z")
According to the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins: **josh.** The best guess is that the Americanism _josh_, for “to kid” or “fool around,” is a merging of _joke_ and _bosh_. The pseudonym of an American writer may have something to do with the word, though. Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818-85) wrote his deliberately misspelled crackerbox philosophy under the pen name Josh Billings. Employing dialect, ridiculous spellings, deformed grammar, monstrous logic, puns, malapropisms, and anti-climax, he became one of the most popular literary comedians of his time. The expression _to josh_ was used about 18 years before Josh Billings began writing in 1863, but his salty aphorisms probably strenghtened its meaning and gave the term wider currency.