Query: "book" = leave, run away

Gerald Cohen gcohen at UMR.EDU
Thu Aug 1 00:07:56 UTC 2002


   I've been asked about the origin of slang "to book" = flee the
scene, run away (a term I had never encountered before); it has
reportedly been used on "Law and Order" and "NYPD."

    _RHHDAS_ says "influenced by BOOG,BOOGIE, v." and gives the
meanings: "to leave; to go fast; move along.--also constr. with "it,
up."
Here are the examples in _RHHDAS_:
1974 U.C.L.A. student: 'Time to book this joint.' I heard that in L.A. in 1972.
1974 Univ. Tenn  student:'Let's book, let's book it up, let's split.'
1974 Blount _3 Bricks Shy_ 31: 'Keep on Bookin'...Like keep on truckin'.
1978 J. Webb _Fields of Fire 197 (ref. to 1969): 'Bagger, you book on
out o' here, man.  I gotta rap with a brother, hear?'
1979 _S.F. Examiner & Chronicle_ (Apr. 1) 12: 'Book, v. To drive
one's wheels (automobile) with effectiveness, as in "booking down the
road."
1982 Pond _Valley Girls' Gd. 53: 'O.K., if you're in a hurry you go,
"Wo, like a gotta book it."'
1983 N.Y. Daily News (Mar. 25): Teentalk Glossary...book...move quickly.
1983 K. Miller _Lurp Dog_ 226: 'Mopar was flat bookin'!'
a1984 in Terry _Bloods_ 2: 'That little short snake...bites you and
you're through bookin'.'

     _____

I doubt the influence of "boog, boogie"; the similarity of these
forms to "book" is probably just a coincidence. So the question is:
How did "book" (one with pages) come to be a slang term for "leave,
run away, etc."?
   Would anyone have any ideas?

Gerald Cohen



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