Cutting Didoes

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Should have looked in DARE. They have an extensive entry for "dido." Besides
>the info that's in the OED, it includes a 1945 cite from Colcord's _Sea
>Language_ that reads, "said to come from the H.M.S. Dido, a very fast ship,
>whose commander used to sail her in circles around other vessels of his
>squadron to show off her fleetness."
>
>This "HMS Dido" (there have been several ships of that name), was launched
>in 1896. This can't be the origin of the generic "cut a dido," meaning to
>pull a prank, since that's attested to in 1807. Rather, the particular naval
>sense seems to be a play on words, using the coincidence of the ship's name
>with an existing phrase. I have no doubt that Heinlein, with his naval
>background, got his phrase from this.

When I was young[er], I routinely heard "dido" used for "frippery"/"gewgaw"
or so: it might refer to flounces or decorations on clothing or to
gingerbread in architecture: I guess I would have taken it to be a nonsense
word (reminiscent of "la-dee-da" maybe) for some bauble whose name one
doesn't have handy. I am also familiar with "cutting didoes" in a sense
which I understand to mean "making fancy maneuvers"; but I can't remember
where I first saw this; maybe in Heinlein? I would have pictured a
carpenter cutting fancy curlicues, the sense then extended to a pilot
making fancy loops. But I don't recall whether I ever really saw this
etymology asserted (even if I did, it might not have any truth).

The "Century Dictionary" (1889) gives a proposed etymology for "dido" (I
don't know whether it's anything more than conjecture): <<[ME. _dido_; in
allusion to the familiar tale of the trick played by _Dido_, the legendary
queen of Carthage, in bargaining for as much land as could be covered by a
hide, and cutting the hide into a long thin strip so as to inclose a large
tract: ....]>> The first definition given here ("obsolete") is "an old story."

-- Doug Wilson