Vocabulary lesson: Getting the "heebie-jeebies"

 

Headline:  New York Times, 1/27/2024

When I ask my patients if they have any concerns or questions about the Covid vaccine, hardly any do. Practically no one asks me about safety data or how effective it is at preventing viral transmission, hospitalization and death. Almost no one asks me about current case counts or masking or Paxlovid. There’s just a vague hedge or an abashed, “I don’t know, I just don’t.” As I try to suss out what’s on my patients’ minds, I can feel their slight sense of surprise that there is no specific issue causing their discomfort about getting the updated Covid vaccine. It’s as though they have a communal case of the heebie-jeebies.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first-known use of 'heebie-jeebies', as in JITTERS, CREEPS, occurred in 1923.

Other coinages from the same year include:

1. birdbrain
2. drama queen
3. jeez
4. malarkey
5. reflexology
6. selling point

More vocabulary lessons:

Nudification.  (1/31/2024)

Right-size.  (1/14/2024)

Dumpster fire.  (10/20/2022)

Swinge.  (12/18/2018)

Michael Flynn vocabulary lesson.  (2/14/2017)

Yaw.  (2/28/2013)