Welcome Back to Sunday & Southern Monthly!
If you missed the previous installments, you’ll be interested in reading Issue 1 where I give a full definition of colloquial and a favorite example of one. In Issue 2 you’ll find out what my youngest daughter does every morning.
Here in Sunday & Southern Monthly in an attempt to bring a little southern style, charm, grace, and humor to you once a month, I publish a colloquialism favored in the South ~ a southernism.
Over the last month or so I’ve tried NOT to be this, every day ~
WORRYWART
-
a person who worries or frets incessantly particularly about things that aren’t important
-
a person inclined to worry unduly
My interest was piqued here to know the origin of this term. We know what worry is; we know what warts are. But do warts worry? Or did someone at some point worry to no end about a wart?
Expanded Definition
Consider the expanded definition of worry: as in latching onto something and nearly harrassing it (think of a cat “worrying” their catnip spiked squeaker toy). And an expanded definition of wart: an unattractive trait.
So we can in effect say that a worry-wart is a person who latches onto something and constantly worries about it to the point of becoming unattractive to others. Not something I want to become. No Nervous Nellie for me!
Known Use of WORRYWART
From 1922 to 1957 a popular newspaper comic strip “Out Our Way” featured a character that went by the nickname “Worry Wart”. He was a young boy who created worry rather than suffering from worry. This made me think of the character Dennis the Mennis. Both characters became household names.
Interestingly, Worry Wart was also a DC Comics character in 1944 with a first appearance: All-Flash #15
Synonyms
handwringer, worrier, nervous Nellie
Tune in next month {in a month of Sundays 😉 } for the next installment of Sunday & Southern Monthly. You’ll read all about another silly southern saying.
Thanks for reading! Hurry on back now, ya hear?
