Query: "book" = leave, run away

[Jerome Foster]

maybe "to book a flight outta here"



----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Cohen" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 5:07 PM
Subject: Query: "book" = leave, run away


>    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
>
>