different between gooff vs goon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?u?n/
• Rhymes: -u?n

Etymology 1

Shortened from gooney, from obsolete gony ("simpleton", circa 1580), of unknown origin. Perhaps a familiar term derived from Middle English gone, a variant of gome (“man, person”). Gony was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (circa 1839). Goon first carried the meaning "stupid person" (circa 1921).

• The meaning of "hired thug" (circa 1938) is largely influenced by the comic strip character Alice the Goon from the Popeye series.
• The "fool" sense was reinforced by the popular radio program, The Goon Show, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
• The "guard" sense was influenced by both senses 1 and 2, though not by the Goon Show reference, which arose about 10 years after WWII.

Noun

goon (plural goons)

1. A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence (also known as a 'hired goon').
2. A fool; someone considered silly, stupid, awkward, or outlandish.
3. (ice hockey, derogatory)  An enforcer or fighter.

4. (Britain, WWII, PoW slang) A German guard in a prisoner-of-war camp.
5. (Internet slang) A member of the comedy web site Something Awful.

Derived terms

• goony
• goon baiting
• goon squad

Translations

See also

• goonie
• gooney
• gooney bird

Etymology 2

Perhaps diminutive slang for flagon or from Aboriginal English goom.

Noun

goon (uncountable)

1. (Australia, countable, informal) A wine flagon or cask.
   • 2009, Stephen Cummings, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy?: Misadventures in Music, page 11,

     We drank goons of cheap wine.

2. (Australia, uncountable, informal) Cheap or inferior cask wine.
   • 2010, Patrick Holland, The Mary Smokes Boys, unnumbered page,

     ‘On the night of our school graduation he stole a flagon of goon wine and disappeared into the woods. The police found him the next day asleep on the creek. […] ’

   • 2010, Jason Leung, This All Encompassing Trip: Chasing Pearl Jam Around the World, page 384,

     With these instructions, we take turns sipping the wine directly from the bottle on the beach. It?s not the classiest thing to do but the fact that it?s in a bottle already makes it classier than all the boxes of goon we?ve consumed this trip.

   • 2011, E.C. McSween, et al., Boganomics: The Science of Things Bogans Like, unnumbered page,

     Red wine was consumed largely by posh folk, white wine meant goon, mention of a Jägerbomb would have sent its father ducking for cover, and ‘sex on the beach’ meant just that.

Synonyms

• box wine
• cask wine

Anagrams

• gono-, no go, no-go, nogo, noog, ongo

Esperanto

Noun

goon

1. accusative singular of goo

Japanese

Romanization

goon

1. R?maji transcription of ???

Middle English

Verb

goon

1. Alternative form of gon (“to go”)

Ojibwe

Noun

goon anim (obviative goonan, diminutive goonens, locative gooning, distributive locative goonikaang)

1. snow

   Gii-gichi-onzaamiino goon gii-biboonagak.

   There was a lot of snow this winter.

Derived terms

• goonikaa

Related terms

• -aagon-

See also

• zoogipon

References

• The Ojibwe People's Dictionary https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/goon-na