"laid" and other random BE slang in the HDAS

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 26, 2004, at 3:59 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "laid" and other random BE slang in the HDAS
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>> The only bell that this has ever
>> rung with me is the "cut" in "can't cut it" = "can't do it."
>> But I doubt any connection. "Can't cut it," to my mind,
>> implies "tried [one's best] and failed [anyway]" and "can cut
>> it" has, for me, only the literal meaning involving the use
>> of some edged instrument.
>>
>>
>
> Any relationship to "cutting heads"; two guitarists facing off in
> competition?
>

I don't think so, though I've heard "cutting" used alone in a music
context: a new band member attempting to demonstrate his chops and the
talent that he brings to the unit by challenging an established
band/group member or section to a "cutting" contest.

Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet is perhaps the most famous case. He
played the alto sax. But Lionel Hampton refused to hire him, since he
needed a tenor man. To get the job, Jacquet switched to the tenor on
the spot and played first tenor when the band recorded "Flyin' Home."
Jacquet improvised a solo that cut his competition for first tenor and,
in fact, established him as the king of the so-called "Texas Honker"
school of tenor-sax playing.

-Wilson Gray