Limeoutsider
1st Level Green Feather
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Ah well, I used to get detention for stupid shit, like violating dress code whrn the blind bat of a teahcer said that my red shirt was orange
Dear Word Detective: Where did the word "ishkibibbel" come from? (I'm spelling it phonetically.) I'm trying to determine if it is just a nonsense word or if it has a standard meaning. -- Cynthia Batman, via the internet.
A little of both, actually. Your phonetic attempt, by the way, is pretty close to the mark. The usual spelling is "Ish kabibble."
There are several layers to the story of "Ish Kabibble," so let's start at the top. "Ish kabibble" is slang, possibly German or Yiddish slang, meaning "I don't care" or "Who cares?"
Ish Kabibble was also the stage name of Merwyn Bogue (1907-94), a cornet player in Big Band leader Kay Kyser's orchestra. Kay Kyser was the host of the enormously popular 1930s radio program Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, and Bogue, portraying the slightly addled Ish Kabibble, served as comic relief and a sort of sidekick to Kyser. Incidentally, one of the vocalists who worked with Kay Kyser in the late 1940s was Merv Griffin.
The inspiration for Bogue's character's name was quite possibly a humorous popular song by Sam Lewis published in 1913 entitled "Isch Gabibble" or "I Should Worry," the lyrics of which make the meaning of "Isch Gabibble" pretty clear: "I never care or worry, Isch Gabibble, Isch Gabibble, I never tear or hurry, Isch Gabibble, Isch Gabibble, ... When I owe people money, Isch Gabibble, Isch Gabibble, If they befriend or lend me that's their lookout, They shouldn't yell or shout, I should worry if they steal my wife, And let a pimple grow on my young life, Isch Gabibble , I should worry? No! Not me!"
Another incarnation of at least the "kabibble" element of "Ish kabibble" was in a popular comic strip, "Abie the Agent" by Harry Hershfield, which debuted in 1914 and chronicled the adventures of a character named Abie Kabibble.
It's probable that both the song and the comic strip were playing off "Ish kabibble," already popular slang for "Who cares?" in the early 1900s. But as to where the words "Ish kabibble" themselves originally came from, that, unfortunately, remains a mystery, although Yiddish slang seems the most likely source.