The phrase “it’s a doozy” is an American expression that means something is remarkable and usually excellent. If “His elder daughter arrives in a doozie of a snowstorm,” you know that snowstorm was particularly intense.
Popular culture contains a story about the word “doozy.” It’s said to be based on the Duesenberg automobiles of the 1920s. They were the supercars of the day, capable of the extreme speed of 100 mph when most cars maxed out at about 40, and costing tens of thousands of dollars when a pretty nice house would cost just one or two thousand. (In a piece of bad luck, the Duesenberg supercars appeared right when the Great Depression hit, and it took years to sell the whole inventory. If you’re ever in the market for a several-million-dollar vintage car, just remember that although a given Duesenbergs might be said to be a “1933” or “1935” model, every single one of them was built in 1929.)
It’s true that a Duesenberg was a doozy of a car. It’s also true that Duesenbergs were called “Duesies.” But the word “doozy” couldn’t have come from Duesenbergs for a very simple reason: the Deusenberg company was founded in 1913 to build engines, and didn’t come out with a whole car until about 1920, while the word “doozy” was in use as early as 1903: “As soon as the races were billed he began to evolve schemes—one doozy scheme followed the other” (Slang Fables from Afar by Kleberg).
So if “doozy” didn’t come from a fancy, impressive car, where did it come from? One possibility is that it’s a form of “daisy.” In addition to being a flower, “daisy” was used in the US in the 1700s and 1800s to mean someone or something outstanding: “‘She’s the daisiest gal I ever saw! She’s —well she’s just a daisy, that’s what she is.’” (Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Burnett, 1886).
Another possibility is “doozer,” which used to be American slang for something out of the ordinary: “A storm was brewing. ‘A real doozer,’ I mumbled. ‘A doozer.’” (By Jumping Cat Bridge by Kenneth Wells, 1956). The only problem with this theory is that “doozer” seems to have come into use after “doozy”, not before. There was an older word, “douser,” that meant a heavy blow: “It was allowed..to give him a rising blow. Let ours be a douser.” (Ben Franklin, 1782). But hitting someone hard really isn’t quite the same as considering something to be excellent.
So the jury is out on the origin of “doozy,” and it’s likely to stay that way. In the meantime, if you ever have a chance to ride in a supercar of any era, take it. It’ll be a doozy.
