I see myself as a word nerd, so I don't assume others (journalists excepted) get as much of a kick out of language and etymology as do I. So when I wrote about Janus words - words with opposite meanings - I was surprised to hear from so many of you that you liked it. Go figure.

Careful what you ask for; here's more.

Go figure derives, to borrow a term from a book title, from Yinglish. That's Yiddish translated to English, or perhaps, Yiddish shortening English, depending upon whom you ask. "Go and figure for yourself" was a common enough response centuries ago; so was "go know" (translated) from Yiddish. Who was first is hard to say. Go figure for yourself; I know bupkis.

Speaking of Yiddish in America, Bupkis means beans. No really, it means beans. The idea was that beans were so common and of little value that they amounted to nothing, so bupkis connotes nothing. More American slang from Yiddish includes cockamamie (crazy), chutzpah (nerve), and shtick (routine). Yiddish itself is a hodgepodge of languages - a blend of medieval German and Hebrew.

Hodgepodge is a derivation from hotchpotch, which derived from the French hochepot. Literally stew, the old French term was used in legal dealings to collecting land in a common "pot" before dividing it. Hocher also means to shake; generally used in modern French for a nod of the head, if you please.

On the subject of pleasing, remember Placebo? Chaucer's aptly named character in Canterbury Tales was a flatterer. Flattery may get you nowhere, but it is pleasing. In Latin placere means to please, to be agreeable. Unless corrected by Magistra Muggleston, Charter Academy's Latin teacher, I believe placebo is the future, singular conjugation placere - "I will please." Thus do placebos merely please medical study subjects who take them. Flattery gets you nowhere, but trickery might.

It's said the first "smart aleck" was 1840s trickster Alek Hoag. While his wife posed as a prostitute, Alek robbed the customers. At first local cops were in on it, but when he tried to take their cut the pair were arrested. The police referred to him tongue-in-cheek as Smart Aleck.

Amateur (French) etymologist I may be, but my love (Latin, amare) of idioms is no less real. Thursday: Word stories from the 1500s.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who doesn't know when to quit. Email sholehjo@hotmail.com