kooky

comparative kookier · superlative kookiest · alternative kookie

1. slangEccentric, strange, or foolish; crazy or insane; kookish.

   His kooky behavior seemed charming at first, but soon got on our nerves.

   5 more examples

   In a move to make his exam more interesting, sociology instructor Abraham Kovler borrowed the Atco disk from deejay "Big Jim Pappas," WALL, Middletown, N.Y., and based eight questions on the record's lyrics. […] Pappas played up the project big on his show and nominated it for a "Kooky Exam of the Year" award.

   1959 March 30, “‘Kooky exam’: Students quizzed on teen wax”, in The Billboard: The Amusement Industry's Leading Weekly, New York, N.Y.: Billboard Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20

   Juke box playin' in the jungle / No charge, absolutely free / Soft drinks bubbling down a mountain / To the Carabean^([sic – meaning Caribbean]) sea: / What A Kookie Little Paradise / What A Kookie Little Paradise / Never was an island half as nice / As my Kookie Little Paradise.

   1960, “A Kookie Little Paradise”, Bob Hilliard (lyrics), Lee Pockriss (music), New York, N.Y.: Skidmore Music Co., →OCLC

   If you are an Audrey Hepburn fan – who isn't? – you may have some difficulty in picturing her as a New York playgirl. Miss Hepburn, an elegant thoroughbred, just doesn't look like the type of girl who would live strictly for kicks. Yet here she is, turning out the performance of her life, in a new picture, Breakfast at Tiffany's, as – what the Americans call – 'a real kookie dame!'

   1961 July, Photoplay, New York, N.Y.: Macfadden Publications, →OCLC, page 54

   MOON PILOT. (Disney—Buena Vista) Charlie, a chimpanzee, has just circled the moon three times successfully; it is now time for a man to go. When the chimp sticks Astronaut Rick Talbot, in the seat of the pants, Rick stands up at the wrong time and is accepted as a volunteer. The chimp meantime is getting kookier and kookier—crazy, man.

   1962 February, Fran Smith, “On the Screens: Movies and TV”, in Boys' Life, volume LII, number 2, New Brunswick, N.J.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 58

   Your child will use your crazy answers as a model for inventing his or her own. That's why the more imaginative and far-out your answers are, the kookier your child's answers will be. And the kookier the better—because in this game, kookiness stretches the imagination.

   1984, Peggy Kaye, Games for Reading: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Read, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN

2. hobbiesBehaving like a kook (a person with poor style or skill); kook-like.

   From Kook to Classic A new appreciation for the grace (and glory) of longboardsmanship changed the image of longboarding from kooky to classic. Longboarding became a class-act and the classic essence of the surfing lifestyle.

   1996, Doug Werner, Longboarder's Start-up: A Guide to Longboard Surfing (Start-up Sports; #6), San Diego, Calif.: Tracks Publishing, →ISBN, page 10

   1 more example

   I realized that the strain of the aloha spirit that surfing was bringing out in me was extremely aggressive. […] In my third week I had a revelation. I returned to Seal Beach, where Kim was still in school with the Michaels, and paddled straight out to the pier. I looked around and realized that the lineup was all kooks. In fact, I was the least kooky. I couldn't believe it. Where was the gang?

   2010, Peter Heller, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN

plural kookies

1. alternativechildishAlternative form of kookie (“kookaburra”).