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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== "'''Worry wart'''," meaning "a person who worries or frets incessantly," is one of those phrases tha...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Worrywart07.png|right|frame]]
==Origin==
"'''Worry wart'''," [[meaning]] "a person who worries or frets incessantly," is one of those phrases that only seem [[stranger]] the longer you look at them. It's possible to worry about warts, of course, although fortunately I don't [[think]] there's any [[evidence]] that worry itself causes warts. I suppose a "worry wart" could be a wart that one "worries" (in the sense of "fiddle with") in moments of [[stress]], but that sounds like a bad idea.
"[[Worry]]" itself is an interesting word, one that has traveled far from its [[origins]]. When "worry" first appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] (as "wrygan"), it meant, not "to fret," but "to strangle" (putting a whole new [[light]] on "put your worries behind you"). That grisly meaning of "worry" softened a bit over the subsequent centuries, first to "bite and shake" (as dogs "worry" their rubber toys today), then "to harass or vex," until finally arriving at its [[modern]] [[meaning]] of "to make (or to be) persistently anxious" around 1822.
"Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century].
Thus the [[stage]] is set for decoding "worry wart" as "a person who annoys others by worrying loudly and constantly over nearly [[everything]]." The earliest use of the phrase in print found so far is from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956 1956], although an earlier form, "worryguts," had been popular in Britain since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930's 1930s]. But "worry wart" became a household [[standard]] when it was used as the name of a recurrent character in "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Our_Way Out Our Way]," a popular newspaper comic strip drawn by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Williams_(cartoonist) James R. Williams] from 1922 to 1957. Oddly enough, Williams' "Worry Wart" was a young boy who caused [[worry]] in others, rather than being [[plagues]] by worry himself.[http://www.word-detective.com/0807B.html]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936 1936]
==Definition==
*1: a [[person]] who is inclined to [[worry]] unduly
==Description==
Some people can be especially neurotic or nervous by [[nature]], living out their lives in a state of excessive [[worry]]. These [[obsessive]] concerns may either be global or amazingly minor in scope. Such a person is often said to be a '''worry wart''', also rendered as worrywart or worry-wart in some [[literary]] references. A worry wart's [[fears]] are generally viewed by others as irrational or completely out of [[proportion]] to the actual situation.
A worry wart in an office environment, for example, may spend most of his or her [[time]] fretting over getting laid off or fired. While the actual [[chances]] of a worry wart actually [[becoming]] unemployed may be remote at best, a neurotic employee often seeks out [[advice]] from co-workers on how to handle his or her [[inevitable]] dismissal. Others may worry excessively about job [[performance]] or customer [[complaints]] or minor [[conflicts]] with their superiors.
A [[parent]] described as a ''worry wart'' may have irrational fears about their children's [[safety]], causing him or her to take elaborate [[security]] steps in order to overprotect a child. News reports of a distant [[tragedy]] involving a child may cause a worry wart to install a security fence around the entire yard or to forbid a child from leaving the [[home]] at all without close supervision. What may constitute a minor [[childhood]] [[injury]] to some [[parents]] may represent a major medical [[emergency]] to a worry wart.[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-worry-wart.htm]
[[Category: Psychology]]
==Origin==
"'''Worry wart'''," [[meaning]] "a person who worries or frets incessantly," is one of those phrases that only seem [[stranger]] the longer you look at them. It's possible to worry about warts, of course, although fortunately I don't [[think]] there's any [[evidence]] that worry itself causes warts. I suppose a "worry wart" could be a wart that one "worries" (in the sense of "fiddle with") in moments of [[stress]], but that sounds like a bad idea.
"[[Worry]]" itself is an interesting word, one that has traveled far from its [[origins]]. When "worry" first appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] (as "wrygan"), it meant, not "to fret," but "to strangle" (putting a whole new [[light]] on "put your worries behind you"). That grisly meaning of "worry" softened a bit over the subsequent centuries, first to "bite and shake" (as dogs "worry" their rubber toys today), then "to harass or vex," until finally arriving at its [[modern]] [[meaning]] of "to make (or to be) persistently anxious" around 1822.
"Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century].
Thus the [[stage]] is set for decoding "worry wart" as "a person who annoys others by worrying loudly and constantly over nearly [[everything]]." The earliest use of the phrase in print found so far is from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956 1956], although an earlier form, "worryguts," had been popular in Britain since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930's 1930s]. But "worry wart" became a household [[standard]] when it was used as the name of a recurrent character in "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Our_Way Out Our Way]," a popular newspaper comic strip drawn by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Williams_(cartoonist) James R. Williams] from 1922 to 1957. Oddly enough, Williams' "Worry Wart" was a young boy who caused [[worry]] in others, rather than being [[plagues]] by worry himself.[http://www.word-detective.com/0807B.html]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936 1936]
==Definition==
*1: a [[person]] who is inclined to [[worry]] unduly
==Description==
Some people can be especially neurotic or nervous by [[nature]], living out their lives in a state of excessive [[worry]]. These [[obsessive]] concerns may either be global or amazingly minor in scope. Such a person is often said to be a '''worry wart''', also rendered as worrywart or worry-wart in some [[literary]] references. A worry wart's [[fears]] are generally viewed by others as irrational or completely out of [[proportion]] to the actual situation.
A worry wart in an office environment, for example, may spend most of his or her [[time]] fretting over getting laid off or fired. While the actual [[chances]] of a worry wart actually [[becoming]] unemployed may be remote at best, a neurotic employee often seeks out [[advice]] from co-workers on how to handle his or her [[inevitable]] dismissal. Others may worry excessively about job [[performance]] or customer [[complaints]] or minor [[conflicts]] with their superiors.
A [[parent]] described as a ''worry wart'' may have irrational fears about their children's [[safety]], causing him or her to take elaborate [[security]] steps in order to overprotect a child. News reports of a distant [[tragedy]] involving a child may cause a worry wart to install a security fence around the entire yard or to forbid a child from leaving the [[home]] at all without close supervision. What may constitute a minor [[childhood]] [[injury]] to some [[parents]] may represent a major medical [[emergency]] to a worry wart.[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-worry-wart.htm]
[[Category: Psychology]]