- Today's Word
Noodge
[NOOJ]
Definition
- (verb) To pester, nag, or annoy someone persistently. As a noun, a “noodge” is a person who nags or complains frequently.
Example
His mother would noodge him constantly about cleaning his room, calling him every day until he finally gave in and tidied up.
Fun Fact
The word “noodge” comes from Yiddish “nudyen,” meaning to bore or pester, which itself comes from a Polish word “nudzić” with a similar meaning. It entered American English through Yiddish-speaking immigrants and became popular in the mid-20th century. The term is particularly common in New York City and other areas with strong Jewish cultural influences. Its persistent sound, with the drawn-out “oo” and soft “j” sound, seems to embody the act of nagging itself, making it a phonetically appropriate word for its meaning.
(adjective) Of doubtful authenticity; widely circulated but almost certainly not true or not based in fact.
The tale of Washington chopping down the cherry tree is almost certainly apocryphal — a moral fable dressed up as biography and repeated until it became fact.
Apocryphal derives from the Greek apokryphos, meaning “hidden” or “obscure,” from apokryptein — “to hide away” — built from apo- (“away”) and kryptein (“to hide”). It entered English through the ecclesiastical Latin apocrypha, referring to biblical texts excluded from the official canon — writings considered of uncertain or dubious origin. From there it broadened into its modern sense of any story or claim whose authenticity is doubtful despite its wide circulation.