"the goose"

[Wilson Gray]

Over the years, I've discovered that fewer and fewer young people know
what the literal meaning of "to goose (someone)" is. They're familiar
with derived meanings like "_goose_ the throttle." But, these days, no
one avoids turning his back in the presence of another for fear of
being goosed in the sense that obtained During The War.

-Wilson

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "the goose"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As OED explains, to "get the goose" was old-time theatrical slang meaning to
> be hissed on stage. Evidently it soon came to mean to be hissed *off* the
> stage, as suggested by this uncommon U.S. ex., which goes further to mean
> "reject dismissively; dismiss." (Cf. the identical development of to "give
> someone the bird," now subsumed under "to flip the bird.")
>
> 1879 _Daily Arkansas Gazette_ (Little Rock, Ark.) (Apr. 1) (unp.): "Give
> Ginocchio the Goose." Don't Vote for a Man Who'd Sell You Out. Knock Him
> Down with the Club of Ballot Box Retribution.
>
> The last phrase is really catchy, once you say it enough.  Listen for it in
> November!
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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