druthers

druthers plural noun informal if I had my druthers, we would start over again: preference, choice, liking, choosing, say. WORD NOTE druthers As in “if I had my druthers. ” As a way of indicating a preference, this nonstandard word deserves to be used more widely in place of bland, overly corporate- or financial-sounding terms like options. The only problem is that some people who know druthers from Li'l Abner think it is a mock-Southernism, and therefore condescending. I don't hear it that way, though, and it predates the comic strip. So use without fear. — DA Conversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage.