palooka

pəˈluːkə

🗺️ Regional & Other

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#1·9h ago

(US, boxing, bridge, etc) Someone incompetent or untalented.

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#2·9h ago

(US, slang) A stupid, oafish or clumsy person.

What’s more, Friends offers someone for everyone: a tall, dorky, insecure guy (David Schwimmer); a ditzy, guitar-strumming blonde (Lisa Kudrow); a handsome, jean-clad palooka (Matt LeBlanc); a sarcastic, 9-to-5-ing funnyman ( Perry); a d…

Origin: in the US since the 1920s, originally primarily of boxers. Popularized by Jack Conway of Variety, who also popularized baloney and bimbo. Further popularized by Ham Fisher in his comic strip Joe Palooka about a boxer (published in newspapers since 1930, particularly popular in 1940s). Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.

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