Comments on: Dick short for Richard and detective

By: Will Brennan

Will Brennan — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:24:00 +0000

What is the origin of the phrase to “dick around” or to “dick about”?

By: Leo

Leo — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:59:00 +0000

Sorry, Hot For Words has the wrong derivation for Dick as detective. It comes from 19th Century writer of English detective novels (Dick Donovan was pseudonym for JE Preston Muddock). These books were best-sellers, called ‘Penny Dreadfuls’ because they cost one penny to buy at station news-stands. Dick Donovan was the name of the wildly popular hero, and people in US and UK started calling detectives ‘Dicks’ because of these books. Kinda’ like “Bond, James Bond” became a catch phrase after the success of the first Bond films.

By: Eren OZTURK

Eren OZTURK — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:14:06 +0000

bye bye my teacher:Dd

By: luckyslimester95

luckyslimester95 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:07:26 +0000

Jack is short for Jackson and sometimes Jacob :shock:

By: nerdforwords

nerdforwords — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:30:09 +0000

[Dork] doesn’t have a clear etymology from online sources. Is it from the same origin as “dick,” or is it a contraction of “door key,” as in “door key children”–> “dorky children”? http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dork

By: hottiefucker

hottiefucker — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:40:16 +0000

u can have my private dick

By: leonard

leonard — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:07:08 +0000

good one James :razz:

By: wordreet

wordreet — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:43:34 +0000

‘Jack’ is an affectionate version of the name John.

By: hot4_marina

hot4_marina — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:15:48 +0000

u sure love saying dick, that was great though private dicks :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :cool:

By: caktonias

caktonias — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:35:36 +0000

James… Which is odd considering Jim is also short for James..