Was your first love one of these? Have you ever found yourself crushing on one when you yourself were just a girl?
Hobbledehoy
Pronunciation: hob–uh l-dee-hoi
n. “clumsy, ungainly, or awkward youth”
1530s, of uncertain origin. First element is probably hob in its sense of “clown, prankster” (hobgoblin), the second element perhaps is Middle French de haye “worthless, untamed, wild,” literally “of the hedge.”
Image by State Library of New South Wales Collection via Wikimedia Commons.
There’s something inherently loveable about a hobbledehoy, isn’t there?
After all, wasn’t Gilbert Blythe a bit of a hobbledehoy when he first met Anne with an E?
Probably all the great tall, dark, and handsome figures in our daydreams were clumsy, perpetually awkward youths … once upon a time.
