Antedating of "Bangs"

[Wilson Gray]

But doesn't "bang" have the same sexual connotation in Yankspeak? I vaguely
remember a frat drinking song from the '50's that went something like:

I banged her once
And I banged her twice
And I banged her once too often
Something something something something
And now she's in her coffin

OTOH, Dave, it's true that the sexual connotation didn't occur to me until
after I read your post. I was thinking, "'Banging' instead of cutting or
styling or wearing in bangs? That's interesting."

-Wilson


On 3/26/06, David Bowie <db.list at pmpkn.net> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Bangs"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From:    Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>
> > bang (OED, n.2, 1878)
>
> > 1877 _Chicago Daily Tribune_ 7 Jan. 9 (ProQuest)  Paris ladies are
> banging
> > their front hair after the old English bar-maid style.  False bangs can
> be
> > purchased.
>
> > NOTE:  This also appears to antedate OED _bang_, v.2 (1882).
>
> I *so* double-took (double-taked?) this one--the non-sexual meaning of
> "bangs" is my primary one, but "banging" (unless the object is a drum,
> of course) is utterly and absolutely sexual for me.
>
> Speaking of which--back in the late 80s, i heard a radio-type person say
> that the 80s group the Bangles was originally called the Bangs,[1] but
> they had to change their name because of a New Jersey (IIRC) group that
> already had that name. The DJ seemed greatly amused that the Bangles had
> originally named themselves after hair--but since even back then i knew
> the British meaning of the term, i had my own theory as to what they
> were originally named after...
>
> [1] It was originally--before the Bangs--actually the Supersonic Bangs,
> which is even better.
>
> --
> David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
>      Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>      house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>      chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
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