It's a Doozy!

I had always assumed that "doozy" referred to the Duesenberg cars of the 1920s and '30s, but as Michael Quilian writes, doozy (or doozie) was already in wide use before the Duesenberg brothers sold their first car in 1920.

Apparently, 'doozy' comes from 'daisy,' which "was once English slang, from the eighteenth century on, for something that was particularly appealing or excellent." Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Also on Mr Quilian's site, check out why 'lb' is the abbreviation for pounds (weight, not British money).