This week A.Word.A.Day is running words that sound dirty and aren’t, and crotchet is the pick of them. It means an eccentric opinion or habit, a quarter note, or a small hook — all three from Anglo-French crochet, a little croc, from the Old Norse krókr for hook. Crochet is its twin, crotch belongs to the same hook-and-fork family, and crotchety once meant simply given to crotchets.