Origins of Heckling

Baseball hecklers do not have the monopoly on heckling. In fact, the origins of "heckling" can be found in the textile trade. They were the ones who combed out flax or hemp fibres. Its meaning as we know it today took shape in the early 19th Century when radical, unionised 'hecklers' would interrupt those responsible for reading out the day's news.

And so it was that the word became associated with rapid fire questions aimed to "tease" or "comb out" truths that the speaker might wish to conceal or avoid.

If we look back further, we see that heckling was going on much earlier, in Elizabethan theatre, where it was accepted as part of the boisterous atmosphere to shout at stage-actors. Heckling was famously characterised in the 1970's "Muppet Show" by the old gentlemen in the balcony named Statler and Waldorf.