Word of the Day -- Goober

Goober -- Those of us from the southern part of the US know this word to mean something akin an idiot or buffoon, someone who is a bit of a rube.  In fact, I grew up near a place called Goobertown, and it was always a joke to say: "Hey, that guy is the mayor of Goobertown".  But this was before I knew the actual meaning of the word, which is just another word for peanut. 

But this is where my mythology and actual fact collide.  For years I thought it was the German word for peanut.  The town I mentioned was inhabited by people of German extraction, and they indeed farmed peanuts there.  So, in my brain, the mystery was solved.  But apparently, it has a much different origin.  I refer to Merriam Webster for this: 

It's a regional term, used mainly in the southern and east-central part of the United States. But the peanut plant didn't originate in the U.S.; it's actually native to South America. It was taken from there to Africa, where the local people gave new names to the high-protein legumes. Peanuts traveled back to North America with slave traders, and there English speakers adopted a term from the Bantu languages of central and southern Africa to form "goober." "Goober" isn't the only name for "peanut" that has stuck with us. The snack staple is also known as the "groundnut," "earthnut," and, more rarely, the "pinder," another term that originated in the Bantu languages.

I had some inkling in my brain that peanuts were African in origin; but even that is wrong.  They are from South America and traveled to Africa, then back to North America.  Very interesting and a great example of why I should assume nothing. It's not infrequent that I am wrong.  Still, I like my story from my youth, imagining the people in Goobertown being of strong Germanic stock and planting their peanuts year after year.

Guess I'm just a goober...