The news story said the Erika Kirk was rudely ‘heckled’ at a recent public meeting.
Erika, you’ll remember, is the widow of Charlie Kirk who was assassinated last September.
She responded by speaking nicely (and cleverly!) to the heckler.
Then I wondered—why do we label someone who calls out rudely in a crowd a ‘heckler.’
It turns out this is a very old word.
The verb ‘to heckle’ is recorded in English from around 1325 (so a very old word indeed!).
It means, of course, ‘to abuse or taunt (a speaker, performer, etc.) with derisive or aggressive comments’ (Oxford).
Although, interestingly, it’s only had this meaning since 1808—when it first appeared in English is had something to do with preparing flax.
Which all sounds a bit weird, so clearly more digging is needed.
The Oxford goes on to say that in those ancient times it was ‘used chiefly in north-east England, Scotland, and East Anglia’ because those places had what the dictionary calls a ‘continental influence’ (by which I think they mean a lot of early invaders from Europe).
And this, in turn, matters because ‘heckle’ comes from a family of Middle Dutch and Middle Low German source words.
And (this is where it gets really interesting) it is closely related to ‘hackle’—as in ‘that bloke really gets my hackles up.’
What on earth are ‘hackles’?
It turns out that originally ‘hackles’ referred to long feathers on the necks of certain birds.
And when those birds were disturbed, these feathers rose up (in irritation or alarm).
When human beings are irritated or alarmed, we can say that something has ‘raised their hackles.’
From this it came to refer to ways of preparing flax that involved beating out the flax until it resembled the raised feathers of the birds.
And this derivative word ‘heckle’ is clearly related.
If someone calls out and interrupts a public speech or performance then the person on stage is likely to be irritated, or annoyed, or (perhaps) even alarmed.
The one calling out has ‘got their hackles up’, so they are called a ‘heckler.’
That’s the journey of the word.
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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