Using your noodle

Posted by ESC on November 06, 2003

In Reply to: Using your noodle posted by James Briggs on November 06, 2003

: : How did noodle come to be slang for using one's head or one's brain? I thought of it because my son plastered several to his head at dinner tonight.

: In Britain it's not 'noodle', but 'noddle'. I don't know the background, but I've never heard the 'noodle' variant. Perhaps it's to do with nodding one's head.

It must be a universal impulse. I have a picture of my daughter with spaghetti on her head. In the U.S. it's "noodle." Here is what Merriam-Webster says:
Main Entry: 1noo·dle
Pronunciation: 'nü-d&l
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps alteration of noddle
Date: 1753
1 : a stupid person : SIMPLETON
2 : HEAD, NOGGIN