Word Origins

 

*HOOSEGOW

Though the spelling was changed to preserve the American phonetic pronunciation, the Mexican term is juzgao, derived from Spanish juzgado, a tribunal. But to the ordinary Mexican or the classic western film buff, the slang term means jail. Literary use did not appear before 1920 but probably found its way into colloquial Western speech a dozen or more years earlier.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)