Chrysti The Wordsmith: Boss - 1

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. While perusing the racks for a birthday card recently I spied a card for National Boss Day and observance held on or around every October 16th instituted in the early 1960s. National Boss Day is set aside so workers and staff can show appreciation for their employers happy bosses day seemed an unusual sentiment. What struck me was the word boss which seemed particularly in Congress on a greeting card. My curiosity growing about this monosyllables origin I searched for it in my various dictionaries. It turns out boss came to American English from early Dutch immigrants in the sixteen hundreds the Dutch word boss spelled to be a s meant overseer or master adopted by the amalgam of newcomers to this continent. The word eventually became the orthographical a familiar Boss B o s s. With a change in spelling also came a slight shift in meaning from master to employer

by 1856 the verb form of the word to boss emerged and the word continues to delightfully evolve. By the 1960s the slang adjective boss meaning excellent the best or masterful was fully in place as in a boss car or a Boss suit of clothing. Next time enter bossy. The domineering and bossy the cow. I'm Christi the wordsmith Christy the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises. A high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry sued web dotcom.