What Is The Origin Of The Phrase Smart Alec?

Publish date: 2024-05-02

Alec Hoag delayed prison for himself and Melinda as long as he could by paying off local police, according to Professor Gerald Cohen (via Mental Floss). When he fell on financial hard times and was no longer able to pay off the police, that's when his luck ran out. Both Alec and Melinda Hoag were arrested. Alec reportedly escaped with help from his brother, but there is no word on Melinda's fate. Alec went back to prison after police captured him again.

It was the police who gave Alec his nickname that lived so long after him, according to Mental Floss. They began calling him "Smart Alec" because he thought he was smarter than they were: paying them off for so long, then escaping only to be recaptured. Police even held him up as a cautionary tale for others trying to outsmart the enforcers of the law: "Don't be a Smart Alec."

Mental Floss notes that the expression appeared in print as early as 1865, and eventually found its way into popular slang. Over the years Alec Hoag was forgotten. The expression was separated from the man who inspired it, so his name was spelled in lowercase. Just the attitude of smart alec remained.

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