- Today's Word
Scuttlebutt
[SKUT-l-buht ]
Definition
- (noun) Rumor or gossip, especially among sailors or in a nautical setting. In broader usage, it’s used to describe unofficial information or rumors circulating within any group or organization.
The office scuttlebutt suggests that the company might be merging with its biggest competitor, but nothing official has been announced yet.
Fun Fact
The term “scuttlebutt” has a fascinating nautical origin. On sailing ships, a “scuttle” was a cask that held drinking water, and the “butt” was a large barrel. Sailors would gather around the scuttlebutt to drink and exchange gossip or news, much like modern office workers might do around a water cooler. Over time, the term came to refer to the gossip itself rather than the place where it was shared. This nautical slang term has sailed into common usage, demonstrating how specialized jargon can evolve into everyday language, carrying with it a colorful backstory of life at sea.
(adjective) Lacking substance, interest, or mature thought; naive and simplistic in a way that reveals inexperience.
The critic dismissed the debut novel as jejune — competently written, technically adequate, and utterly devoid of anything worth remembering.
Jejune derives from the Latin jejunus, meaning “fasting” or “empty” — literally describing a stomach that has not been fed. The same root gives us jejunum, the section of the small intestine named for its tendency to be found empty after death. It entered English in the 17th century carrying its literal sense of emptiness before acquiring its figurative meaning of something intellectually or creatively hollow — content that has the form of nourishment without any of the substance.