[Ads-l] Green's: "shine someone on (v.)"

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Sat Feb 24 04:12:18 UTC 2018


On 2/23/2018 7:58 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Yeah, but then it would be "shine on it," which it ain't.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 7:49 PM, Jim Parish<jparish at siue.edu>  wrote:
>
>> I always interpreted it as "(let the sun) shine on it" - i.e., leave it
>> alone. But that interpretation dates back to the whippersnapper I was
>> forty-some years ago, in Santa Barbara.
>>
>> Jim Parish
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2/23/2018 6:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> This always seemed to me to be a very weird locution. Why "shine on"?
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 5:56 PM, Wilson Gray<hwgray at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>> It seemed to mean "to skip out or not show up for" some meeting or
>>>> responsibility.
>>>>
>>>> I can't recall whether I've heard it used that way, but that use makes
>>>> perfect sense, as in, i.e.:
>>>>
>>>> a) Wanna go to that meeting, tonight?
>>>> b) Let's shine it on. ....
--

"He shined me on" or "He shined on me"?

Cf.: "He f*cked me over" or "He f*cked over me"? (see past discussion, 
and HDAS citations).

In each of these pairs (and are there other comparable ones?), one 
member may have been descended from the other by way of a passive or 
other form after the original sense was forgotten. E.g., one can imagine 
"He f*cked over me" > "I got f*cked over by him" > "He f*cked me over" 
... similarly, maybe "He shined on me" > "I got shined on by him" > "He 
shined me on".

As for the original sense: Particularly if "He shined me on" is derived 
(somehow) from "He shined on me" .... maybe it was originally moonshine? 
"Moon" (verb) in HDAS includes the modern fundament-displaying sense and 
also an older anal-intercourse sense.

Just woolgathering.

-- Doug Wilson

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