all yo(l)ked up

[Jonathan Lighter]

Don't bother with HDAS, which is currently available only in Parallel
Universe K379-Delta.  (Not far away, cosmically speaking, but time- and
wealth-consuming to reach.)

"Yoked" is a new one on me.

JL


On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 10:04 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: all yo(l)ked up
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> On 5/6/2014 8:59 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
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> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      all yo(l)ked up
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > Someone off-list wonders whether the original expression is "(all) yoked
> up" or "(all) yolked up", usually meaning something like 'ripped',
> 'muscular, or 'buff'.  (See e.g. urbandictionary.)  Going through web hits,
> it looks to me as though "yoked" is the original and "yolked" an
> (appropriately enough) eggcorn, but I can't be sure whether that's the case
> and, if so, exactly how "yoked up" was derived (from the original oxen,
> perhaps).  Does anyone know?  No listings in the eggcorn database.  And no
> relevant OED lemma, which isn't too surprising.  I'd check HDAS, but…
> --
>
> At least some apparently use "yoked" to mean more specifically "having
> large trapezius muscles" (one can Google e.g. <<trapezius yoked>>). I
> guess the 'traps' (trapezii) have a configuration reminiscent of a yoke.
> A plausible etymology, IMHO, but I don't know whether true.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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