Why do they call it smart aleck?

The police soon discovered Hoag was cheating them out of their share by this new tactic and arrested Hoag and Melinda. Hoag promptly escaped from prison, with the help of his brother, but was eventually recaptured. Alec Hoag was then given the nickname “Smart Alec” by the police for being too smart for his own good.

Where did smart alec origin?

However, a professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology discovered that the term actually was derived from a real-life person named Alec who was a con man that thought he was smarter than everyone else. Alec Hoag was a pimp who lived in New York City in the 1840s.

What means Smarty-Pants?

Definition of smarty-pants informal. : smart aleck, know-it-all “If you give people the impression you’re a smarty-pants, that’s no good for sure.”— Al Gore Choosing books for picky friends can be humbling.

Who was the first smart alec?

Alexander Hoag
The Original Smart Alec Born in New York around 1809, Alexander Hoag was presumably conniving as a youngster; by his mid-20s, he’d already established himself as one of the city’s preeminent con-artists.

What means Smarty pants?

When someone is being a smartass?

The definition of a smart ass is a person who makes comments he thinks are clever or funny but which are usually unwanted or undesired by others. An example of a smart ass is someone who always has to make sarcastic comments in answer to simple questions.

Whats the meaning of Alec?

Defender Of The People
The name Alec is primarily a male name of English origin that means Defender Of The People. Short form of the name Alex.

Whats does smart mean?

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your goal.

What is the meaning of smart aleck?

smart aleck. An impudent or obnoxiously self-assertive individual, a wise guy, as in New teachers often have a hard time coping with the smart alecks in their classes. This expression, dating from the mid-1800s, probably alluded to a person of this description who was named Alec or Alexander, but his identity has been lost.

Why is Alec Hoag called Smart Alec?

Hoag promptly escaped from prison, with the help of his brother, but was eventually recaptured. Alec Hoag was then given the nickname “Smart Alec” by the police for being too smart for his own good.

Is ‘mansplaining’ sexist?

A woman who took to Twitter to explain the term ‘mansplaining’ with a clever flow chart has ended up being accused of sexism herself. Kim Goodwin, an author from California, posted the graphic on Twitter to help men figure out if they’re guilty of giving women unwarranted explanations in a patronizing manner.

Was Alec a real person?

However, relatively recent research by various etymologists such as Professor Gerald Cohen, in his1985 work “Studies of Slang”, has shown, based on considerable newspaper article evidence, that “Alec” was actually very probably a real person, namely Alec Hoag. Hoag was a pimp and a thief in New York City in the 1840s.