July 24, 2018--Pussyfoot

Recently I have been having dreams that take place at my last employer, the Ford Foundation.

Night after night I am being drawn back to the building on 43rd Street, mainly to meetings for which I am embarrassingly unprepared. Sometimes, to humiliate myself further, I show up for these meetings in my pajamas, or less.

In a dream from late last week, I was again at a meeting, this one I initiated and at it were the foundation's president and her most senior Vice President and my favorite colleague, Barry Gaberman. Unusually, this time I was fully dressed and I thought, for once, in command of the situation.

Knowing I was eager to share some insights about the foundation's function and was having difficulty gathering my thoughts and forming my words, to be helpful, calmly, Barry said--

"You're beating around the bush.
Get it off your chest.

Say what's on your mind.
No need to pussyfoot."

In spite of his help and, I never did manage to share my ideas coherently, but this time Barry did what he could to help me work my way through it. That alone offered some measure of consolation.

After waking, reviewing the dream material in an attempt yet again to understand why I continue to be obsessed with the Ford Foundation, I was struck by the series of idioms as the dream's scriptwriter I assigned to Barry. Wondering about their linguistic history I did a little research--

Beating around the bush seemed obvious--what porters and servants do with sticks to flush out from their hiding places animals hunters hope to shoot. Its first appearance is thought to have been from the Middle Ages.

Get it off your chest is not as vivid but from the 18th century on there have accrued a number of idioms that are derived from physiological sources. Having a lump in one's throat is an example. To get something (a weight) off one's chest first appeared in 1902. And then there is the all-too-familiar having something weighing on one's mind. Clearly, the source of many dreams. Which brings us close to the origin of getting something off one's chest. Again, something heavy. And why not consider to have half a mind to ___ and in the back of one's mind, to be of one mind, and the more recent, psychedelic, blow one's mind.

Most interesting by far of Barry Gaberman's stream of idioms is pussyfooting.

In this Trumpian Stone Age I could only imagine its source but was relieved to learn that it has a benign though unexpected origin.

William Eugene "Pussyfoot" Johnson (1862-1945) was an American Prohibition advocate and law enforcement officer. In the Oklahoma Territory, in pursuit of his campaign to outlaw booze, he went undercover, posing as a habitué of saloons in order to collect information against their owners. And, likely, a shot or two. 

He gained the nickname "Pussyfoot" due to his cat-like stealth while tracking down suspects.

Isn't our language wonderful! At least I'm getting something from all these sleep-depriving dreams.

September 13, 2017--Rhyming Reduplications CONTEST

"How was your sleep?" Rona wanted to know after waking up, "You were tossing and turning half the night."

"I woke up from a disturbing dream at about 3 AM and didn't get much sleep after that. I spent a lot of time feeling anxious. Maybe about what was going on down in Florida."

"Did you have the heebies or the jeebies?"

"The what?"

"The heebie-jeebies. I'm making a little joke to perk you up. You still seem distressed."

"I am a little bit, but thankfully I don't have the heebie-jeebies anymore. By the way, I love that expression--heebie-jeebies. I wonder about its etymology."

"Look it up when we get home. I don't have a clue. Could be interesting."

I did and here's what I found:

First of all there are quite a few expressions similar to heebie-jeebies. All are in effect rhyming two-phrased compounds where the phrases" are not actual words. Like, there is no meaning associated with either heebie or jeebies.

They are literally two made up expressions where the parts, only when fused together, are deemed to have meaning, to refer to something specific. And if they are disaggregated, split apart, they have nothing to do with the meaning of the expression. There is only meaning when they are paired. Thus, heebie-jeebies together means a state of nervous fear or anxiety.

And, of course, as is true for all parts of every language, there is a name for this class of expressions--rhyming reduplications.

Perhaps listing some of my favorites will make all of this clearer--

Mumbo-jumbo
Hocus-pocus
Itsy-bitsy
Roley-poley
Handy-dandy (made up of two actual words)
Willy-nilly
Helter-skelter
Harum-scarum
Pell-mell
Topsy-turvy
Riff-raff
Hoity-toity 
Dilly-dally
Fuddy-duddy
Razzle-dazzle
Chick-flick
Zig-zag
Hanky-panky

From the research I subsequently did, I learned that--

New coinages of this kind often appeared at times of national confidence, when people are feeling outgoing and optimistic and are moved to express this in language. For example, during the 1920s and following the First World War when many nonsense word-pairs were coined--among them bee's-knees and, my current favorite, heebie-jeebies.

They often do have the sound of the Jazz Age, of bebop.

But many are of much older derivation. Willy-nilly is over a thousand years old and riff-raff dates from the 1400s. Helter-skelter, arsy-versy (a form of vice-versa) and hocus-pocus all date from the 16th century.

Of more recent vintages are bling-bling, boob-tube and hip-hop.

Don't you love this? The process of language building? Especially  as in these cases when it is about nothing more than the sheer enjoyment of word play.

Do you like this enough to participate in a contest?

Here's how it works--

Create a new rhyming reduplication. To be sure it's a new one, check it on Google.

Submit it and it's meaning via a response to this posting no later than midnight east coast time, September 15th. Also, it would help to include it in a sentence.

The winner will be announced on Monday, September 18th. 

The prize will be a $100 contribution in your name to any non-profit of your choice.

Good luck! Above all, have fun!