Rapscallion
Language Log 2024-11-04
A recent Bluesky post by George Takei, re-skying (?) @GraniteDhuine:
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) November 3, 2024 at 10:00 AM
As Wiktionary explains, the etymology of the base word rascal is rather tasteless:
Recorded since c.1330, as Middle English rascaile (“people of the lowest class, rabble of an army”), derived from 12th century Old French rascaille (“outcast, rabble”) (modern French racaille), perhaps from rasque (“mud, filth, scab, dregs”), from Vulgar Latin *rasicō (“to scrape”).
The step from rascal to rapscallion is relatively bland, perhaps appropriate for the "spring onion" association:
From an alteration of rascallion, a fanciful elaboration of rascal (“someone who is naughty”).
This joke made me wonder about the name of the song Green Onions, and Wikipedia explains that it was named after a cat:
According to Booker T. Jones, the composition was originally to be called "Funky Onions", but the sister of Jim Stewart thought it "sounded like a cuss word"; it was therefore renamed "Green Onions". According to Cropper, the title is not a marijuana reference; rather, the track is named after the Green Badger's cat, Green Onions, whose way of walking inspired the riff. On a broadcast of the radio program Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! on June 24, 2013, Jones was asked about the title and said, "The bass player thought it was so funky, he wanted to call it 'Funky Onions', but they thought that was too low-class, so we used 'Green Onions' instead."
That feline reference adds new flavor to a song that I've enjoyed since I was a teenager.
Back on Bluesky, one of the replies to Takei adds flavor to another song:
We are the champignons, my friend
— Chris Washington (@cwashington.bsky.social) November 3, 2024 at 10:02 AM
[Note: The most widely-used neologism for posting on Bluesky is "skeet". But there's some associated controversy. So I'm experimenting with sky, which after all does have the existing senses "To toss (something) upwards" and "To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high".]