The noun “gander” is often heard in sentences such as “I’ll take a gander at it.”<\/p>\n
I wondered about this use of the noun, so I checked a dictionary.<\/p>\n
The primary meaning of “gander” is male of any goose species<\/em>.<\/p>\n According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the slang use of “gander” to mean glance<\/em> comes from the image of someone taking a long look, as if craning his or her neck like a goose (or sex-specifically a gander).<\/p>\n Apparently this slang use of “gander” was first recorded in 1887.<\/p>\n I then wondered why “gander” instead of “goose” — which specifically refers to the female of any goose species<\/em> — became popular as the slang form of the noun “glance”, so I did some more research.<\/p>\n Apparently “I’ll take a goose at it.” did not have a chance because seven years earlier — in 1880 — the slang use of “goose” as a poke between the buttocks to startle<\/em> first appeared.<\/p>\n Conclusion:<\/strong> Be sure you know your “goose” from your “gander” when using these words in slang!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The noun “gander” is often heard in sentences such as “I’ll take a gander at it.” I wondered about this use of the noun, so I checked a dictionary. The primary meaning of “gander” is male of any goose species. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the slang use of “gander” to mean glance comes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nouns"],"yoast_head":"\n