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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Zhush...juege..zsuzsh?

Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. Talked about 'zhushing' up some-one's car.
Basically meaning 'to add glamour' (recently made famous by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy). But I'm damned if I can work out a way to spell it.

Discussion here, for those interested;
http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm11.showMessage?topicID=468.topic

Dylan
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. [/nq] "sprucing up"? (snip) Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation: I have preferences.

  • [nq:1]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning.
  • [/nq] "sprucing up"?
  • (snip) Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation: I have preferences.
  • You have biases.
  • He/She has prejudices.
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10 Answers
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[nq:1]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. Talked about 'zhushing' up some-one's car.[/nq]
"sprucing up"?
(snip)
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
0
[nq:2]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. Talked about 'zhushing' up some-one's car.[/nq]
[nq:1]"sprucing up"?[/nq]
Juicing up?

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/
0
[nq:2]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. Talked about'zhushing' up some-one's car.[/nq]
[nq:1]"sprucing up"?[/nq]
Similar meaning, but definitely not the same word. The actual pronounciation varies a little. The first consonant is always the 'zh' sound from pleasure, but the final consonant can vary between this and a soft 'sh' or a regular buzzing 'z'. The vowel is someti
0
[nq:1]Similar meaning, but definitely not the same word. The actual pronounciation varies a little.[/nq]
^^^ I feel a self-Oy moment coming on...
0
[nq:2]Heard a radio announcer use this word this morning. Talked about 'zhushing' up some-one's car.[/nq]
[nq:1]"sprucing up"?[/nq]
The word has an onomatopoeic feel about it.
Jp
0
[nq:2]"sprucing up"?[/nq]
[nq:1]Juicing up?[/nq]
Interesting. I wrote that first, but then was unsure. I have definitely heard "sprucing up". My dad used it.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
0
[nq:2]"sprucing up"?[/nq]
[nq:1]Juicing up?[/nq]
Souping up?
soup up sth or soup sth up
INFORMAL
to improve something by making it more powerful or more interesting
Circuit boards can be used to soup up existing machines.

souped-up
adjective
INFORMAL
He patrols the nightclubs on a souped-up scooter.
(from Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasa
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[nq:2]Juicing up?[/nq]
[nq:1]Souping up?[/nq]
Except that's not at all what the announcer meant. Anyway, there's plenty of websites discussing the word. The most accepted spelling seems to be 'zhuzh', which reasonably well captures the pronunciation.

Dylan
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[nq:2]Souping up?[/nq]
[nq:1]Except that's not at all what the announcer meant. Anyway, there's plenty of websites discussing the word. The most accepted spelling seems to be 'zhuzh', which reasonably well captures the pronunciation.[/nq]
Aha, yes, "zhuzh" appears to be a recent phenomenon. Far more pages mentioning it than using it, if you know what I mean. A signal that the word isn't tr
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[nq:1]I've snipped some further, rather aimless, speculation about origins. The sensible thing to do would be to pursue the South African connection.[/nq]
Seek out the Polari. More commonly spelled 'zhoosh', but 'zhooshing your riah' was an essential prelim to showing your eek.
John Dean
Oxford

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