Talk:Booby prize
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Dustbin[edit]
The most famous of Booby Prizes is the dustbin you get if you have Dusty Bin at the end of 3-2-1. this is a highly subjective statement. the crummy cars and donkeys they used to give on let's make a deal are more familiar to me. Stubblyhead 06:49, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Origin[edit]
The word "boob" traces from the Spanish bobo meaning stupid, which in turn comes from the Latin balbus meaning stammering. The ancient Romans considered stammering to be a sign of stupidity. This type of word is called "echoic," kind of onomatopeic, reflecting the repetitive stammer. "Bal-bal-bal-bus" says Clau-clau-claudius.
The OED notes that the word booby to mean dunce appears as early as 1599.
Booby-prize is the prize given to the loser (such as the contestant with the lowest score), usually something humorous. Literally, the idiot's prize. The OED cites this usage from 1893. http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbooby.html -69.87.200.196 23:11, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
Proposed merge with Wooden spoon (award)[edit]
Brief article that is a subset of booby prize and would be more informative as a section of that article. Dubbinu | t | c 12:08, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
Keep as separate articles Both or well used terms. Not exactly the same, although similar. Djln Djln (talk) 17:14, 5 March 2018 (UTC)