Dictionary.com announced it added the word ‘jabroni’ to its online listings, giving credit for the addition to the actor known as ‘The Rock.’
I never heard one person use the word jabroni. You might suggest that this is a sign I’m not up on my Dwayne Johnson films. To that charge, I must respectfully plead guilty.
Dictionary.com announced it added the word to its online listings. In a Twitter post, it referred to Johnson, whom wrestling and film fans know as “The Rock.”
“We assume @TheRock could smell us cooking up this update the whole time,” the tweet stated.
Johnson, who was a professional wrestler before moving into films, made it clear he didn’t originate the word. In an interview published on YouTube, he said that credit goes to a fellow wrestler.
I’ve never been a huge wrestling fan, but I have at least heard of a character called “The Iron Sheik.” He wrestled back when I was a kid. In any case, Johnson said the Sheik used the word:
So what’s a ‘jabroni,’ anyway?
Now that we established the proper source for the word, what on earth does it mean?
The Rock himself said this: “If The Rock hits you, he’ll kill you. If he misses, the wind behind the punch will give you pneumonia and you’ll die anyway, so the choice is yours, Jabroni!” At least, his website says that he said that.
If you still aren’t 100% clear on its meaning, let’s go to Dictionary.com.
They provide two meanings, both nouns.
The first is “a stupid, foolish, or contemptible person.” To put it another way, it’s a loser.
It then provides an alternate definition specific to the world of professional wrestling. This meaning refers to “a wrestler whose purpose is to lose matches against headlining wrestlers.” They do so, the definition says, to build up the status and fame of the headliner.
In any case, you can be sure being called a jabroni isn’t something you should have as a goal.
Then again, in this day and age, you could easily be called worse.
