While I usually have a pretty good idea as to the meaning of some of the more unusual, high end words I use (that's how I make nerdy sound unique, and lengthy sound cool)...the meaning of some common phrases often escapes me and leaves me wondering.

For instance, last night I used the term "wig out". As in, "I almost freaked". And then I thought- where the hell does wig out come from and why does the word wig seemingly replace freak...as in "freak out"?

That's where etymologists come in. They study the origins of words. Linguists, kinda, but not really. But they do hang out with linguists, so they're cool. Careful not to confuse them with Entomologists- they study bugs.

So I was looking through 'Dawg Speak', self described as a Slanguage Dictionary, from the University of Georgia and ran across this:

Wig out 1789 British; the noun wig refers to verb 'a harsh scolding or reprimand'; 1955 American; perhaps from verb wig 'to scold, rebuke'. From the idea to flip one's wig (British elite).

So wig means to scold, rebuke, etc...

Now I can say "Why do you wig me man?" You can say it too! Bet it will wig some people out.