#477 Squat

I don’t know squat. And more importantly, she doesn’t know diddly squat. Diddly is this context is apparently an adjective, although it does sport the suffix L-Y- which usually denotes an adverb. Squat appears to be a noun in this context, although it usually is used as a verb. Perhaps that’s why diddly had the adverbial spelling. In either analysis, what the heck does it mean?
“I don’t know squat.” It appears to mean I don’t know anything. But why is “squat” a synonym for “anything?” Or perhaps “nothing” if this is the sentence construction that employs a double negative for emphasis. In either case “squat” doesn’t really seem to belong. “Squat” is what people do when they attempt to achieve a lower level to pick something up, or possibly deposit something. “Squat” is the type of exercise that sent us teenage boys into fits of giggles in junior high school when the P.E. coach told us to do twenty-five of them. “Okay boys, time to do squat thrusts.” To both squat and thrust always seemed like such a dilemma. But we were really laughing because, let’s face it, “squat” is one of those words that is just plain funny. Squats. Squat thrusts. He squatted. I lost it once when I was reading a book and the author had the friendly counselor type bend down to a girl who was crying on the quad because her boyfriend had broken up with her. The author said, “To make her feel more comfortable, Jim squatted down to her level.” Um, “crouched” would have been the word here. Squatted was way too distracting.
But so it is with some words. Cramped. Squatted. Squirt. My favorite is crampons. Who invented this word? What does it have to do with ice or getting around thereon? I understand the “on” part I guess, as in strap on. What I don’t get is the “cramp” thing. Wouldn’t “clamp” be a better choice? Cause you clamp it on and it helps to clamp your feet to the ice. But crampons? Ice walking, at least to me, is not a precursor to double-up in pain flatulence. Although when I strap on crampons, I usually have to squat.
America, ya gotta love it