palooka

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The Word of the Day for May 13 is:

palooka   \puh-LOO-kuh\   noun 
    *1 : an inexperienced or incompetent boxer 
     2 : oaf, lout 

Example sentence: 
     "Before Ali, they say, boxing was just a bunch of palookas punching each 
other." (Joseph D. O'Brian, _American Heritage_, October 1991) 

Did you know? 
     The origin of "palooka" is unknown, though various theories have been put 
forth (some sources credit the baseball player and sportswriter Jack Conway 
with the coinage, for example). "Palooka" first appeared in print in 1924, and 
may have been popularized by a comic strip titled "Joe Palooka" (by Ham 
Fisher), which began a few years later. The probable connection between 
Fisher's comic and "palooka" only adds to the mystery surrounding this term, 
however. Joe Palooka was a boxer who was neither incompetent nor clumsy and 
oafish, and yet the word "palooka" came to have these negative meanings. In 
addition, limited evidence shows that "palooka" is occasionally used as a 
general synonym for "rookie" and also as a term describing horses with very 
little chance of winning.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.