3 ms·

Is hornswoggled a common word in the USA?

jacquesm 4y ago
I read it as 'to be cheated'. And I'm nowhere near native level, I think the link for me is the swoggled mentally links it to swindled.
smolder 4y ago
I've never heard it anywhere as a USian. It seems the type of obscure and redundant word that people bring out once per decade. Without looking it up, I could guess horn refers to phone and swoggled is another swindled, so to hornswoggle is to phone-scam.
nostromo 4y ago
No. Scammed, tricked, or even bamboozled would be much more common.
the_jesus_villa 4y ago
No, not common at all
oidar 4y ago
Not with the current generation of people. I can't speak to any other generation, but as a native speaker I did understand it. It seemed archaic to me.
- bentley 4y ago
  I wouldn’t call it archaic, but more folksy. I think most people would understand it, but would rarely encounter it outside a humorous context. It’s pretty similar to bamboozle, except that’s gained kind of a “cute” connotation in recent years (due to pet memes, etc.) that hornswoggle doesn’t have.
sharps1 4y ago
Not that I know of. I’d guess probably came across it randomly and liked the word. Seems like it comes up in crosswords https://crosswordtracker.com/clue/hornswoggle/ https://crosswordtracker.com/clue/hornswoggle/ Also funnily not related is a WWE stage wrestler name who had a YouTube video done in them a year ago. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornswoggle https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornswoggle.
- morkalork 4y ago
  Thanks, now I have a mental image of the author as a late middle aged man in a drab brown office, working for a low-rent paper, sitting behind a desk with an old computer that hasn't changed since '98, leaning back and doing crosswords in between writing articles lamenting today's youths and technology. With maybe a overcoat and beaten up fedora hanging up behind him. He smiles slightly while working on the puzzle, hornswoggle, that's the one he's going to sneak into the next article.

I read it as 'to be cheated'. And I'm nowhere near native level, I think the link for me is the swoggled mentally links it to swindled.

smolder 4y ago

I've never heard it anywhere as a USian. It seems the type of obscure and redundant word that people bring out once per decade. Without looking it up, I could guess horn refers to phone and swoggled is another swindled, so to hornswoggle is to phone-scam.

nostromo 4y ago

No. Scammed, tricked, or even bamboozled would be much more common.

the_jesus_villa 4y ago

No, not common at all

oidar 4y ago

Not with the current generation of people. I can't speak to any other generation, but as a native speaker I did understand it. It seemed archaic to me.

bentley 4y ago
I wouldn’t call it archaic, but more folksy. I think most people would understand it, but would rarely encounter it outside a humorous context. It’s pretty similar to bamboozle, except that’s gained kind of a “cute” connotation in recent years (due to pet memes, etc.) that hornswoggle doesn’t have.

sharps1 4y ago

Not that I know of. I’d guess probably came across it randomly and liked the word. Seems like it comes up in crosswords https://crosswordtracker.com/clue/hornswoggle/ https://crosswordtracker.com/clue/hornswoggle/ Also funnily not related is a WWE stage wrestler name who had a YouTube video done in them a year ago. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornswoggle https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornswoggle.

morkalork 4y ago
Thanks, now I have a mental image of the author as a late middle aged man in a drab brown office, working for a low-rent paper, sitting behind a desk with an old computer that hasn't changed since '98, leaning back and doing crosswords in between writing articles lamenting today's youths and technology. With maybe a overcoat and beaten up fedora hanging up behind him. He smiles slightly while working on the puzzle, hornswoggle, that's the one he's going to sneak into the next article.