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November 16, 2008
whack-job or wack-job: which is it?
The phrase appears increasingly often these days, sometimes with and sometimes without the "h."
If you put "whack-job" into Google, some 367,000 results are said to be out there.
If you put "wack-job" in, about 124,000 results are returned.
Pretty convincing case for the "h," what?
I'll address the hyphen issue another day.
November 16, 2008 at 02:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
DEFINITELY "wack-job."
Unless you're arranging a hit, then it's a "whack-job."
Posted by: Joe | Sep 23, 2009 10:01:36 AM
I don't see where the problem lies. The woman is both. Obviously wacko and obviously whacked in the head.
Posted by: Miles | Nov 17, 2008 12:46:40 PM
"This one seems very simple to me. A 'wacko' is a loony. To 'whack' is to hit someone. The word in question means a crazy person, not someone who hits other people. Therefore it is 'WACK-JOB.'"
That does make sense.
However, I could also see it being 'whack-job' as well, in that the person is acting like they've been whacked on the head and is thus 'loony'. Bugs bunny cartoons are most certainly biasing me towards that alternative...
Posted by: johnjohn | Nov 16, 2008 10:14:52 PM
Stigma-creating or prejudice-creating, which is it?
Posted by: Alison Hymes | Nov 16, 2008 4:23:11 PM
This one seems very simple to me. A "wacko" is a loony. To "whack" is to hit someone. The word in question means a crazy person, not someone who hits other people. Therefore it is "WACK-JOB."
Posted by: Lilorfnannie | Nov 16, 2008 2:16:04 PM
