Today, something startling from the Vox crossword:
I had never regarded galoot as a synonym for bozo. Bozo, in my mind, is a harsher epithet, while galoot carries more of an "innocent goober" vibe to it. Bozos are complete jerks and do things on purpose to annoy others. Galoots are just goofy guys tripping over their own feet.
Indigant, I raced to the Internet to find the definition for galoot and discovered thus:
As for the word origin: I suspect, somehow, it's Dutch. I don't know exactly why I suspect that, but I do. Galoot sounds like an Englisher trying to say something they've heard a Dutch sailor say. And that's generally not a good thing.
Also, what casued the surge in the use of "galoot" in the 21st century? Or the surge in the late 19th and early 20th century, for that matter? The long tail leading into the '50s and beyond can probably be explained by Hollywood westerns, but as for the rest, I'm lost.
Probably the late surge can be explained by the Internet, and having the word counters have a lot more and a lot more easily-searched text to delve into.
In contrast, here's the same dictionary's definition of bozo:
Note the inclusion of "rude" in the definition. Rudeness, to me, is what sets a bozo apart from a galoot.
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