[Ads-l] shimmy (shake, climb up/down)

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Mon Aug 19 17:53:33 UTC 2019


If that’s a representational drawing depicting Maurice Chevalier in 1922 (at 1:30 of the slide show), he had certainly aged a lot by the time he was thanking heaven for little girls.  Maybe being a collaborator takes a lot out of you. 

LH


> On Aug 19, 2019, at 12:24 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj4tfMkPuPM
> 
> GAT
> 
> On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 4:36 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> 1. In a video on pickling blackberries, Atomic Shrimp uses the expression
>> “give a shimmy” and then shakes a jar by means of several short vibrations.
>> 
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3Ddy5jWXJ1TsA&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=zOpAV6tgYmQTxE50O86N5k6QUBaowZXfkWip1DTF09w&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3Ddy5jWXJ1TsA&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=zOpAV6tgYmQTxE50O86N5k6QUBaowZXfkWip1DTF09w&e=
>>> (2:47)
>> Pickled Blackberries (Part 1)
>> 
>> Atomic Shrimp, located in the UK
>> 9 September 2018
>> 
>> ****
>> I’ll give that a little shimmy….
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> 2. The OED does not cover this. Related senses it has are:
>> 
>> ****
>> v.
>> 1a. To dance the shimmy.
>> 1b. To dance (the shimmy); to shake (part of the body) as in the shimmy.
>> 2. intransitive. figurative and transferred. To shake, quiver, vibrate, to
>> progress hastily or irregularly.
>> 
>> n.
>> 1. (the dance)
>> 2. An oscillation or vibration of the wheels, etc., of a motor vehicle or
>> of an aircraft undercarriage; spec. = wheel wobble n.
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> 3. The progress from the OED’s meaning to the Atomic Shrimp can be seen,
>> for example in
>> 
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tinyurl.com_yym4feyw&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=owLGuhMqQ0IgPt31iKtkAKYy1ElLZw20CoG1hJgR3NQ&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tinyurl.com_yym4feyw&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=owLGuhMqQ0IgPt31iKtkAKYy1ElLZw20CoG1hJgR3NQ&e=
>>> 
>> A Promise of Forever
>> 
>> Marilyin Pappano
>> 2015 (Google-dated)
>> 
>> ****
>> An instant later, the skirt began sliding form her waist, and she gave it
>> a shimmy to help it along.
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> 4. Here is another example of “shimmy” as a noun:
>> 
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.winemakingtalk.com_threads_massive-2Drhubarb-2Dplant.65388_page-2D8&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=_-Uz4UkdWZLCfLaUIJrU2_lhwhk7p7qEWYDBg3UihkY&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.winemakingtalk.com_threads_massive-2Drhubarb-2Dplant.65388_page-2D8&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=_-Uz4UkdWZLCfLaUIJrU2_lhwhk7p7qEWYDBg3UihkY&e=
>>> 
>> Massive Rhubarb Plant
>> 
>> Wolfpup
>> 11 May 2018
>> 
>> ****
>> Did not take as long to get a reading today, Gave it a "shimmy" shake,
>> tapped it and swish, here we go. It looks like the numbers are getting
>> smaller.
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> 5. BZ also provides an example in the ADS archives
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__listserv.linguistlist.org_pipermail_ads-2Dl_2005-2DSeptember_054227.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=7wfUYaOvxBPFY9Q0I6SXVSSWQqPDWXd9kpPGLKKAJmc&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__listserv.linguistlist.org_pipermail_ads-2Dl_2005-2DSeptember_054227.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=7wfUYaOvxBPFY9Q0I6SXVSSWQqPDWXd9kpPGLKKAJmc&e=
>>> 
>> 
>> The citation appears to be from the TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”,
>> episode 65: ’Something Blue’ (1999, see
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__vrya.net_bdb_ep.php-3Fep-3D65&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=IUAVd9Y0vqtlwV4ldxW2nnCTfq7nftmcpMAa8-a-4WI&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__vrya.net_bdb_ep.php-3Fep-3D65&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=IUAVd9Y0vqtlwV4ldxW2nnCTfq7nftmcpMAa8-a-4WI&e=
>>> )
>> 
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__vrya.net_bdb_clip.php-3Fclip-3D975&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=B_W_wGiHzlWtyVrpd-TocEL3ul69oLwCfFXtyZECRJ8&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__vrya.net_bdb_clip.php-3Fclip-3D975&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=B_W_wGiHzlWtyVrpd-TocEL3ul69oLwCfFXtyZECRJ8&e=
>>> 
>> 
>> ****
>> Willow: Yeah.. I-I know I've been sort of a party-poop lately, so I said
>> to myself, "Self!" I said, "It's time to shake and shimmy it off.”
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> 6. Separately, the meaning of ascend or descend by the use of the hands
>> and knees/lower legs is not given in the OED. Wiktionary (
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiktionary.org_wiki_shimmy&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=6XvxM0Hu4zY1wuBDIChivYF7Sy6hwmf2jlkk7PjvtAY&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiktionary.org_wiki_shimmy&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=6XvxM0Hu4zY1wuBDIChivYF7Sy6hwmf2jlkk7PjvtAY&e=
>>> ) covers this:
>> 
>> ****
>> To climb something (e.g. a pole) gradually (e.g. using alternately one's
>> arms then one's legs).
>>        He shimmied up the flagpole.
>> ####
>> ####
>> 
>> I don’t think that “gradual” movement is a part of the definition,
>> however. Shimmying is, in my experience, frequently a very rapid movement.
>> 
>> Merriam-Webster (
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.merriam-2Dwebster.com_dictionary_shimmy&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=u_v7nwBJbt2zdPKC0M_dc56E33qQHjUI-aJcX_hAqpU&e=
>> <
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.merriam-2Dwebster.com_dictionary_shimmy&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=u_v7nwBJbt2zdPKC0M_dc56E33qQHjUI-aJcX_hAqpU&e=
>>> ) is also quiet on both meanings.
>> 
>> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society -
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=UCL2awiBliTpdGwtVrKo66yIcltZjNjbVjz-amZyXkU&s=kblfgasFdF4ncJIJleku1G6NCMFjoS0pO9yeyKchaoI&e=
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998.
> 
> But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
> your lowly tomb. . .
> L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112
> 
> The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
> picture of his great-grandfather.)
> http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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