Talk:hoosegow

Etymology
From the Spanish "Juzgado" (correctly pronounced 'hoosegatho', but Spanish speakers often swallow the 'd', so it results being pronounced 'hoosegow') Juzgado means court or courthouse, thus in the old West, the courthouse often also held the jail.

Spelling
I wont bother reverting it, but no, i disagree, you dont need to change the spelling just because the /d/ is silent. "juzgao" has never been the proper spelling for the word even in a dialect. — Soap — 04:25, 18 March 2017 (UTC) (originally signed as Lollipop)


 * Hoosegow does not come from written Spanish, it's from spoken colloquial Spanish. Juzgao represents the common pronunciation that led to the English word hoosegow. In the past, lots of people in Mexico had little education and did not write correctly. It was (and still is) common for people to leave off accent marks and misspell words that have v (boy, bas, ba) or c/z (unas beses). Es más, I have often seen Spanish past participles spelled with -ao, especially in song lyrics and poetry. For instance, that song by Celia Cruz: La negra tiene tumbao / Y no camina de lao. —Stephen (Talk) 05:00, 18 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Saying "juzgao" is common in every single corner of the Spanish speaking world across all social classes to skip the "d". Its just spoken, informal or "lazy" Spanish.

I see an IP removed the Latin American part from the etymology, and I would just like to point out that it probably wasn't intended to be read as a claim that juzgao exists only in Latin American Spanish, but rather that hoosegow originates from Latin American (Mexican/US) Spanish use of it (as opposed to European Spanish use of it). Whether this is important to note, meh... - -sche (discuss) 19:32, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

I like the etymology as it stands currently. I see the benefit of linking to juzgao, but I'm glad we also describe it as spoken Spanish to indicate it was never the correct spelling. — Soap — 11:29, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

To add to entry
Basic information to add to the "Etymology" section of this entry: how/where/when this term got absorbed into English. 173.88.246.138 03:01, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I'd be interested too. I'm pretty sure it comes from the days of the American West, when Mexico owned Texas and had a sizable English-speaking population, who may have heard the word juzgado as they were being arrested and detained for committing crimes. That much seems plain, but so far as I know, juzgado has never been the word for prison, so the question I have is why we didnt borrow our word from one of the Spanish words for prison instead. — Soap — 11:34, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

usually "the hoosegow"
Cf label at slammer --Backinstadiums (talk) 08:57, 13 February 2022 (UTC)