On 1/12/2015 2:54 AM, David Rance wrote:
On Sun, 29 Nov 2015 22:21:40 philgurr wrote:

"Gary Woods" wrote in message
...

Quite a while ago, I bought a neat little tool described as a "Widger."
Just a slightly curved piece of stainless steel sort of the size of a
largish pen; different widths on the 2 ends; used for pricking out
seedlings and transplanting small stuff.
The name sounds very British - is it?
Previously (and still for very small seedlings), I used a pocket sized
flatblade screwdriver.

See :- http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/de...english/widger

That reference suggests that it is a nonsense word "used in a series of
memory tests". There is no etymology connected with it other than that
so it would appear that it is a word that someone made up when he/she
didn't know what to call it, and it stuck.

The word doesn't appear in my 1950s OED.

It appears in my OED:
widger: Also erron. 'wigger'. See quote 1956. A gardening tool
consiting of a small strip of metal, with a shallow furrow down the
centre, used as a miniature trowel to remove seedlings, cultivate pot
plants etc.

The instances of its occurrence follow with it's first appearance listed
as being in 1956.