Boobery--Scary, Maybe

Booby!

What image springs to mind when you read that word? (Remember, this blog is family friendly!) Hold on to your underwear because below I have inserted a picture of a booby.

(Source https://what-when-how.com/birds/blue-footed-booby-birds/ through Google Images)

As you can see, this booby happens to be a blue-footed one. But it’s a bird, you say, “any of several sea birds” as my American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHDEL) defines it, not a booby, a foolish person, wearing blue shoes. (Below, see a booby wearing blue shoes, blue suede shoes, to be sure!)

This booby-in-blue-suede-shoes’s newfound interest in the word “booby” sprang from a recent OED On-line Word of the Day entry, “boobery,” defined as “The action or fact of doing something foolish, especially making foolish mistakes; foolishness, stupidity. Also: an instance of this; a foolish act or thing.” The entry goes on to note that foolish people considered as a class is a somewhat rare usage these days.

While I had heard of the word “booby” with its various meanings—except the bird one--I had never heard of “boobery” and had great fun imagining of what a “boobery” might consist. In its true meaning, the boobery would be the hoi polloi, the plebes, the common people, but the word has more potential for fun.

In the interest of having some fun with the word, let’s separate “booby” from its suffix, “-ery.” My AHDEL defines “-ery” as “1. A place for: bakery. 2. A collection or class: finery. 3. A state or condition: slavery. 4. Act or practice: bribery. 5. Characteristics or qualities of: snobbery.”

Let’s deliberate upon the various meanings of the suffix attached to the stem. “Booby” plus “-ery”:

1. a place for boobies. Using the definition of “booby” which I declined to provide above, a bra can be considered a “boobery.” You could also consider Hooters a boobery. In addition, you would find avian blue-footed boobies in a boobery (compare rookery) but I hope not in Hooters.

2. a collection of boobies. Considering current politics, all sides of the political spectrum might consider the others as “the boobery.”

3. a state or condition. Feeling foolish? Prone to committing foolish acts? You must be “in a boobery,” not in a funk or but maybe in a New York state of mind.

4. act or practice. Find yourself with old friends or other mischief-makers? Resign yourself to boobery. My siblings and I frequently lapse into boobery when we get together.

5. characteristics of qualities of. When you have boobies acting boobish, they are engaging in boobery. 

“Boobery” could also describe trick-or-treaters on Halloween or fans of Boo Boo Bear.

If you find yourself among the boobery, beware of booby traps although it might not be too bad to win a booby prize. Now I must conclude these boobish thoughts and go hand wash my boobery.