loosey-goosey--antedating

[Sam Clements]

Jerry,

There's a 1943 cite using Newspaper Archive.  So you're not alone.

By the way, it was a baseball player using the phrase.

sam clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 3:35 PM
Subject: loosey-goosey--antedating


>       HDAS presents "loosey-goosey," with the first attestation being
> 1967. But I specifically remember hearing it in 1958, the year I finiished
> high school.  After graduation I went to a baseball camp in Tampa,
> Florida--at that time I wanted to play baseball professionally--and I
> specifically remember one of the two men who ran the camp. He was older
> (about 38) than the rest of us but liked to pitch batting practice.  He
> once told me that he loved the hot weather, because he then felt
> 'loosey-goosey.' i.e., all his muscles were loosened up and he      could
> pitch more easily.  I think that was the first time I heard       the
> expression used--in fact, I'm not sure I've heard it used since then.
>    I know that memory can play tricks, but I'm as positive of this memory
> as is possible. And there's no doubt about the date, because it was right
> after I graduated from high school.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
>
>
>