goer (2009-06-12)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: ['go-wêr]

Definition: Something that goes, works, or gets things done, a person that is going places and who really makes things happen, a promising project or anything that is really successful but—a promiscuous young woman.

Usage: Here again we have a word that tells us about masculine domination of the language. "He is a real goer" refers to a very capable man with a lot on the ball while "She is a real goer" suggests a woman who moves too fast and in the wrong lane. (Women were supposed to stay at home.) But today's word applies to everything in the world: "No, Ozzie, while it is innovative, I don't think your broccoli ice cream is a goer."

Suggested Usage: A plan is a "goer" if it shows promise of working. "Where Ozzies would say "It's a goer," folks in the US would probably say "It's a winner."

Etymology: Today's word is derived from the verb "go" from Old English "gan." The verb is prevalent among Germanic languages, e.g. Swedish "går," German "gehen," Dutch "gaan," but is found in few other Indo-European languages. It is suspected in Latin heres "heir" with a suffix -r (*ghe-re-) and in Greek khoros "place," which would put it in the English borrowings "hereditary" and "choreography." But both etymologies are stretches. The past tense, "went," is the old participle of wend "to wind one's way." Another variant of "go" is "gang," still used in Scotland, as in Bobby Burns' famous proverb, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley." Elsewhere its meaning changed to "going, way of going" and vanished except in compounds like "gang-plank."