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• cockamamie •

Pronunciation: kahk-ê-may-mee • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Absurd, foolish, outlandish, implausible, crazy, unrelated to reality.

Notes: This word was popular in the 1930s and 1940s but its popularity has dipped a bit of late, though we do hear it from time to time. It lives alone without any derivational kinswords.

In Play: This is a good word to toss into conversations with your grandparents, who will remember it with fondness: "Grandpa, where did you get that cockamamie hat you are wearing?" It is such a funny vocabulary item that we should try to pass it on to the next generation, too: "A fox jumped in the front window and caused you to swerve the car into a tree? Do you expect me to believe a cockamamie story like that?!"

Word History: In the middle of the 19th Century decals became a mania in Victorian Britain, so much so that Britons borrowed a word from French, decalcomania "mania for decals" to describe it. (Our current word, decal, by the way, is a clipping of that word.) The French word, decalcomanie "mania for (tombstone) tracings," resulted from the previous mania in Europe. This word is made up of the prefix de- "from, off" + calquer "to copy, trace" + manie "mania". So what has this cockamamie story to do with the word under discussion? Cockamamie is, in fact, nothing but a corruption of decalcomania that gained currency over the years to become the whimsical slang adjective it is today.

So, could we say that a cockamamie cockerel is nothing but a cockalorum?

This absurd, foolish, outlandish, implausible, crazy, unrelated to reality word "cockamamie" is not in my speaking vocabulary. I had rather absquatulate than say it.

Heard it recently on Big Bang Theory:

• Sheldon: I decided to take your advice and have arranged to go on a date with Amy.
  Penny: Oh, that's great. Have fun.
  Sheldon: Wait, you have to drive me.
  Penny: What?!
  Sheldon: You know I don't drive.
  Penny: Well, go ask Leonard.
  Sheldon: I did; he said, and I quote: "Ask Penny, it was her cockamamie idea."
  Penny: (surprised) Leonard said "cockamamie"?
  Sheldon: Actually, I'm paraphrasing. Having been raised in a Christian household, I'm uncomfortable with the level of profanity he used. And to be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with "cockamamie".
  Penny: Hold on, let me get my... cockamamie keys.

So, are you saying I remind you of Sheldon? I am not quite sure how to take that.

Wasn't thinking that way at all, Philip. The word just brought this exchange to mind.