Splib

[Jonathon Green]

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 18:30:07 -0400, Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
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>> I hope Jonathon Green can say something about it. His (Cassell's) slang
>> dictionary shows an etymology which I don't understand.
>>
Is it _that_ incomprehensible?  I suggested a possible link to the phr.
slip-de-wib, and the jazz use splibby, which I defined, doubtless from a
more authoritative source, which evades me now, possessing 'soul'. Ah, I
have the source: Clarence Major's Juba to Jive which is not, and i'd be
intersted to know if Wilson Gray has seen it, the ideal authority. He in
turn cites Wentworth & Flexner.

I can return to this on Saturday; in the interim I'm off to Paris. I trust
at least some will be jealous.

JG

PS. What on earth is wrong with 'Would that it were?' a phrase that is
rarely far from my lips. Other than its status as an appalling and
probably unforgiveable cliche.