To interrupt and bother a speaker by shouting rude comments or questions.
From Middle Low German 'heckeln,' meaning to comb out fibers. The sense of interrupting comes from the idea of combing through or harassing someone's words.
Heckling has ancient roots in theater—audiences weren't always polite! The word's shift from textile work to audience disruption shows how jobs and their vocabulary can take on completely new meanings in different contexts.
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