crossing the street

[bardiphouka]

I will admit it. Sometimes,ofte, I will find the etymology of a word at least as interesting as the definition. I was reminded at 6AM when we are accusing each other of jaywalking as we left work. We know what the term jaywalking means ,but how did it come to mean it?

As it turns out the first recorded usage was around the time of WWI in Boston. There was a now obsolete use of the term jay to mean someone dumb or stupid. Something akin to another near obsolete word..rube. So a jaywalker,in those days when horses and automobiles were competing to rule the streets, was usually someone from the country who did not know enough to walk carefully. Seems a bit of an insult to corvids, but there you are. In fact it could be said that the original definition of jay was similar to the term bird brain. caw caw

Comments

[tonyhippy.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was because the jay, being a scavenger, would walk up and down in the road looking for disturbed insects or roadkill, mindless of oncoming traffic.