Goody two shoes

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 28 22:56:35 UTC 2014


Michael Quinion presented an analysis of "Goody two shoes" in an entry
at World Wide Words. In 1765 the oft reprinted work "The History of
Little Goody Two-Shoes" was published in London. "Goody two shoes" was
the nickname of a character.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-goo2.htm

At the end of the article Michael remarked on an interesting earlier
instance of phrase:

[Begin excerpt]
As an etymological aside, the anonymous author of the original story -
it has been attributed most often to Oliver Goldsmith, though Charles
Lamb and Newbery himself have also been suggested - may not have
invented the expression. A correspondent to Notes and Queries in 1904
pointed out that goody two shoes appears in a burlesque poem by
Charles Cotton, A Voyage to Ireland, of 1694, as a cant term for a
bad-tempered housewife...
[End exerpt]

Below is a note in 1890 asserting that "Goody Two-shoes" was employed in 1670.

Periodical: American Notes and Queries
Date: May 3, 1890
Quote Page 3
Publisher: Westminister Publishing Company, Philadeliphia, Pennsylvania

http://books.google.com/books?id=yREAAAAAYAAJ&q=%22then%2C+Goody%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
GOODY TWO-SHOES.

The little story of Goody Two-shoes is often ascribed to Goldsmith.
But in Cotton's burlesque, "Voyage to Ireland" (1670), when the poet
was dining with the mayor of Chester:

"Mistress mayoress complained that the pottage was cold;

'And all 'long of your fiddle-faddle,' quoth she.

'Why, then, Goody Two-shoes, what if it be?

Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle,'" quoth he.

Here "Goody Two-shoes" is a nickname, and apparently one of contempt,
bestowed by the husband upon his wife. The quotation shows, at least,
that Goldsmith did not invent the name or title of the little story.
Ipsico
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 4:28 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "weenie", the alternative "MacGuffin"? And other movie terms
>               from 1946
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Feb 28, 2014, at 1:51 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>
>> Why is "goodie" good, but "goodie two-shoes" not so good?...
>
> "goodie-goodie" isn't so good either.  Too good to be true/too good for one's own good.  Not sure where the two shoes came from, though.
>
> LH
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 5:48 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>> Subject:      "weenie", the alternative "MacGuffin"? And other movie terms
>>> from
>>>              1946
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> New York Herald Tribune, 20 October 1946 (Sunday), THIS WEEK
>>> magazine, article "Cliff-Hangers", by William Roberts, pp. 15, 26, & 27.
>>>
>>> This article about the current process of producing movie serials has
>>> the following:
>>>
>>> "The most important element of a serial plot is the 'weenie,' that
>>> is, the object of all the mayhem that takes place from episodes one
>>> to 13.  [Later, the writer indicates that 13 is the last
>>> episode.]  The weenie can be a map, a document, a mine, an oriental
>>> scarab with mystic powers, an invention, or, as in one case, a Nazi
>>> plot to gain control of 'Middle Africa.' To justify the number of
>>> people done to death during the course of the action, the weenie must
>>> have fabulous importance attached to it. It must be the most valuable
>>> map, document, mine, etc., in the world."  P. 26, col. 3.
>>>
>>> The weenie has some similarity to the MacGuffin, at least as
>>> explained by Wikipedia: "a plot device in the form of some goal,
>>> desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues,
>>> often with little or no narrative explanation. The specific nature of
>>> a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot. The most
>>> common type of MacGuffin is an object, place or person; other types
>>> include money, victory, glory, survival, power, love, or other things
>>> unexplained."
>>>
>>> I will not try to analyze the difference, since I am not a recognized
>>> film critic or lexicographer.
>>>
>>> "weenie" in this sense is not in OED3.
>>>
>>> Other movie terms claimed by the article (p. 27, cols. 2 and 3) are:
>>>
>>> "clean heavy": the leading heavy, "the suave, sinister figure behind
>>> the villainy".  Not in OED3 ("heavy", short for "heavy villain", is).
>>>
>>> "dirty (or "dog") heavy": "the wretch who performs the strong-arm
>>> thuggery".  Neither is in OED3.
>>>      "dirty heavy": GBooks has several.  One is alleged to be
>>> Collier's Illustrated Weekly - Volume 81 - Page 12 (1928): "In motion
>>> pictures we have light heavies, heavies and dirty heavies, and the
>>> ex-pug of the cauliflower ears and broken nose is usually cast as a
>>> dirty heavy."  Others are 1982, 1989, 1990, 1994.
>>>      "dog heavy": GBooks alleges several.  1947, Billboard - Nov 1,
>>> 1947 - Page 49 ("dirty-dog heavies"; full view); 1952/1954; and 1960s
>>> through 2013.
>>>
>>> "goodie" (or "goody"): hero, heroine, or ally.  Not in OED3.  GBooks
>>> has at least 2007 (Take Me to Your Leader), but even with "movies"
>>> added too many to search through.
>>>
>>> "cheater-cut":  "the introduction of a few feet of film showing a
>>> hitherto-unnoticed avenue of escape for the intended victim."  Not in
>>> OED3.  GBooks has 1973 (An illustrated glossary of film terms), 1977,
>>> 1979, and a few later, mostly definitions rather than use.
>>>
>>> American Notes & Queries - Volume 6 - Page 119 (1946?) appears to
>>> quote from the NYHT article ... or vice versa.  GBooks, snippet.
>>>
>>> I can send a PDF to those who wish one. (The article itself is an
>>> amusing take on the production of serials.)
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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