sashay

Pronounced: sa-SHAY, verb

Notes: I knew a bit about this word, but the background was interesting

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Yesterday’s word

The word sukey means “a tea-kettle”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the nursery rhyme “Polly Put the Kettle On”; this is a nursery rhyme that I did not hear while growing up. However, I have a recollection of having read the title somewhere — but I didn’t know the verses (or maybe I only saw the first verse referenced). Anyway, in the first verse, Polly (nickname for Mary) is told to “put the kettle on” so that “we’ll all have tea”. In the second verse, Suki (a nickname for Susan) was told to “take it off again” because “they’ve all gone away”. Over time, Suki (spelling changed to sukey) began to be referenced as the tea-kettle.