VARMINTS, WHY DO I SAY THAT?

  VARMINTS, WHY DO I SAY THAT?

I woke up and remembered the darned raccoon was raiding my bird feeder, and the blackbirds were doing the same. I wanted to know why I kept calling them VARMINTS, so I looked it up for all of us, including me.

FROM dictionary.com noun Chiefly Southern and South Midland U.S. vermin. an objectionable or undesirable animal, usually predatory, as a coyote or bobcat. a despicable, obnoxious, or annoying person. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/varmint

FROM merriam-webster.com varmint noun var·​mint | \ ˈvär-mənt \ Definition of varmint . . . Thesaurus varmint noun . . . https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/varmint

FROM vocabulary.com Varmint is an informal word that means “wild animal” or “critter.” Your uncle Bob might see a mouse and yell loudly, “Get out of my kitchen, you varmint!” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/varmint

FROM farmnatters.blogspot.com What’s the difference between a critter and a varmint? http://farmnatters.blogspot.com/2008/06/farm-definition-critters-versus.html?m=1

Which leads us to the definition of CRITTERS FROM merriam-webster.com https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/critter

At owltail.com: https://www.owltail.com/podcasts/46050-varmints

And THIS at huffpost.com An American Dialect Dictionary Is Dying Out. Here Are Some Of Its Best Words. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dictionary-of-american-regional-english_n_599199fee4b08a247275c897

And THIS at jacketflap.

“Hell is other varmints.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the varmints.” –William Shakespeare

“Some of us are becoming the varmints we wanted to marry.” –Gloria Steinem

“To use a varmint to show that a varmint is not a varmint is not as good as using a non-varmint to show that a varmint is not a varmint.” –Chuang-Tzu

“My eleven-year-old daughter mopes around the house all day waiting for her varmints to grow.” –Bill Cosby

“Never have varmints, only grandvarmints.” –Gore Vidal

“When I need a little free advice about varmints, I turn to country music.” –George H.W. Bush

“For just one night, let not be co-workers. Let’s be co-varmints.” –Ron Burgundy

“Every woman adores a varmint.” –Sylvia Plath

“Imagine there’s no varmints. It isn’t hard to do.” –John Lennon

“We fought a war on varmints, and varmints won.” –Ronald Reagan

“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘varmint’ is.” –Bill Clinton

“I’m going to take my varmints to South Beach.” –LeBron James

“Omit needless varmints.” –William Strunk Jr.

https://www.jacketflap.com/megablog/index.asp?tagid=26211&tag=varmints

wordfoolery.wordpress.com https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/tag/origin/

wordnik.com One ugly varmint is knocked out, only to be replaced by another one. (HOW TRUE I SAY) https://www.wordnik.com/words/varmint

mentalfloss.com 10 Words That Started Out as Errors http://mentalfloss.com/article/60059/10-words-started-out-errors

grammar.yourdictionary.com Redneck Slang Words https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/slang/redneck-slang-words.html

myvocabulary.com Wild West and Cowboys Vocabulary Word List https://myvocabulary.com/word-list/wild-west-and-cowboys-vocabulary/

Gives you an idea of how long a word can hang around, doesn’t it?

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