Q&A: The origin of ‘doozy’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, a real doozy..

Q: I have a doozy of a topic this week!

A: Oh really, what is it?

Q: Huh?

A: What’s the topic?

Q: I just told you.

A: Huh?

Q: The topic – the word “doozy”.

A: Oh right! Got it. 

Q: First up, that’s the correct spelling, yeah? Not “doozie”??

A: Well, SOME do spell it with an “-ie” and it IS listed in most dictionaries – and occasionally also “doozey”. But “doozy” is far more common.

Q: Okay, so speaking of dictionaries, HOW do they define it?

A: Macquarie Dictionary lists it as a colloquial noun: “something especially remarkable, either good or bad”. Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster defines it as “an extraordinary one of its kind”– while also offering “doozer” as an alternative.

Q: So an example might be: “Wow, that’s a doozy of a tattoo”?

A: Exactly. 

Q: And where did it come from?

A: Not sure. A tattoo parlour? It’s your story.

Q: No, silly. The WORD.

A: Ah, sorry. Well, it might seem a little strange – but most word nerds believe that it actually came from the word “daisy”. It had of course been the name for a flower since the 1300s, but by the 1750s also came to be slang for “anything pretty, charming, or excellent”.

Q: “I say, that man’s wig is rather daisy!…”

A: That’s it. Note that at this point it’s being used as an adjective.

Q: I did indeed notice that.

A: By the late 1800s, it appears that using “daisy” had become a popular way to describe something or someone that was considered the best. By 1903, we then see the first appearance of “doozy” – also as an adjective meaning “splendid; stylish”.

Q: “By George, that giant moustache is positively doozy!…”

A: Something like that. Although it may have been the rise of an Italian actress named Eleanora Duse – who became world famous in the 1890s – that helped make the switch. 

Q: Never heard of her!

A: Well, fun fact, people of the 2150s probably won’t have heard of Taylor Swift.

Q: Point taken.

A: And another fun fact: Eleanora Duse was the first woman ever featured on the cover of Time magazine.

Q: Speaking of time, isn’t it about time you told me when “doozy” switched from an adjective to a noun?

A: Merriam-Webster pinpoints 1916 and Ohio as the birthplace of the noun “dozy” (eventually “doozy”) to mean “an excellent or splendid thing or person”. No doubt influenced by the adjective that came before it, and perhaps strengthened by the subsequent popularity of an expensive American make of car in the 1920s called the “Duesenberg”. 

Q: “Saaaay, that car’s quite a doozy, see?”

A: Exactly. And we’ve been calling things “doozies” ever since. 

Q: Has its meaning changed a little though over time?

A: Yeah, it has a little. As the Macquarie Dictionary said earlier, while it often is used for naming good things, more often these days it is used for bad, complicated or problematic things. 

Q: Example?

A: A famous film from 1993 can help out here – the famous splashy pothole scene pointed out by “Ned Ryerson” and replayed over and over in the film Groundhog Day.

Q: Of course! I knew it sounded familiar!

A: In that example, it’s really being used in place of “watch out for that step – it’s a really bad one”. So it can cut both ways – and if you’re ever using it in your writing, context should provide all the clues your reader needs.

Q: So, to recap “doozy” started life as a flower, but helped along by an Italian actress and fancy cars, it eventually became “something unique or remarkable” in a good or bad way.

A: That’s it.

Q: Let’s dooz this again sometime!

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