Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Gardyloo, Gobemouche

Do you know how wonderful G-words are? They're good. Great. Grandiloquent. Think about it: If it weren't for the letter G, we wouldn't have such great words as Gardyloo! and Gobemouche!


Gardyloo!:
Ma: Creole expression that you say whenever you have to go to the bathroom
Pa: Scottish greeting for one's mother-in-law
Jess: What you say when a girl's dress flies up in the wind
Kev: Expression for surprise after sitting on a bagpipe

Gardyloo! It could very well be one of those expressions. Really, if you combine Mom and Dad's answers, you get pretty close.
Gardyloo! is something that Scots used to yell when dumping a wash bowl or bucket of toilet-related matter out of windows and into the streets. Hopefully, there is no longer any use for this exclamation, because I sincerely hope that nobody is still throwing their toilet stuff into pathways.
The term Gardyloo! comes from French, but then adopted by the Scottish. Here's the legend:
King Philippe II, who ruled from 1180 to 1223, was apparently walking through the streets of a plebeian town, when he was doused. By a bucket. Full of bathroom liquids. And that kind of annoyed him. But he was cool about it. Instead of banishing the poor peasant, the King suggested that they start yelling "Watch out for the water!" before they toss. Guess what "Watch out for the Water!" is in French. "Garde à l'eau!"
So how might we bring back this expression? Nobody is using it for what it used to mean, of course. I propose that we say Gardyloo! before we say something that is a complete lie or sarcasm, rather, before we spew a load of bullshit out of our mouths.

Gobemouche:
Ma: French term for an ugly face that your mom always says "Don't make an ugly face or it will stick that way!"
Pa: When you don't put the wood in the fireplace properly. Or a chauffeur
Jess: A person that is in charge of collecting tickets at a movie theater
Kev: The type of asshole who parks across two parking spaces

****Move this paragraph to the end.****
I'd like to actually start by saying this, because I am thinking about it right now. I'll probably edit this to move it to the end but whatever. So I learned when I was reading about Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts that Starbucks employees will often spell names wrong on purpose to get free advertising. Thank you selfies!

So Gobemouche. Another French word, Gobemouche is one of my new favorite ways to describe people. And it's likely that you are one. Yes, most of you reading this are Gobemouches. So what is it? Well, a Gobemouche is someone who is highly gullible, and will believe a lot of what they hear or read. That thing about Starbucks? Made it up. I'm cool.
And no, it has nothing to do with
basketball. Just the mouth.
It's likely that this term comes from the picture on the left. (Not this picture exactly. Just the idea of it.)
Basically, whenever someone is in shock or surprise of hearing such a wonderful, made-up story, their mouth hangs open. And we all know what happens then: Flies get in your mouth. Of course. So that's where this word comes from.
Gobemouche is a compound word, from Gober, meaning "to swallow," and Mouche, a fly.
So a Gobemouche is a fly-swallower, or someone who believes everything and really needs to find a way to clamp their mouth shut. 

1 comment:

  1. That Vine is about as good an example of a gobemouche as it is possible to see!

    ReplyDelete