GEICO ad

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 5, 2004, at 2:50 PM, George Thompson wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: GEICO ad
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> dredged from my scrapheap of useless memories --
>
> I recall that the Scatman Carruthers (-type?) character on the Amos &
> Andy radio show used invariably to enter the scene crying "slip me
> some skin so I can grin"

I don't remember this (which means nothing).

>
> Also: Was there not a film from the mid/late 70s called "Five on the
> Blackhand Side"?

But, I do remember this (which means it's true.;-)).

-Wilson Gray

>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African
> Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Date: Monday, October 4, 2004 10:56 pm
> Subject: Re: GEICO ad
>
>> "Gimme some skin, man!" was the height of white-boy junior hipster
>> coolth when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I don't think it's
>> been found in print before the '40s. (Actually, "slap me five!"
>> may have been even cooler.)
>>
>> JL
>> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------
>> ------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>> Subject: Re: GEICO ad
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------------
>>
>> On Oct 4, 2004, at 5:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>> Subject: Re: GEICO ad
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>>> --------
>>>
>>> HDAS has a number of cites for "dap," n. & v., referring to similar
>>> gestures from the Vietnam War period.The definition there is prob.
>>> inadequate, since none of my sources were able to produce the
>> thousand> words that might equal the GEICO nature footage Wilson
>> refers to.
>>>
>>> 1966 is earlier than any printed source I have.
>>>
>>> "BAPPING & dapping" is new to me. A fellow student once demonstrated
>>> an elaborate "trick handshake" to me in the early '70s, but I
>> believe> he called it a "jive handshake" used by jazz musicians
>> (regrettably, I
>>> didn't make a note at the time).
>>>
>>> Which reminds me, I first heard "high-five" during the baseball
>> season> of 1982 or '83. (In merry days of yore, players
>> congratulated a
>>> home-run hitter with a hearty handshake instead. How the world doth
>>> wag!)
>>>
>>> Anything earlier?
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>> Unfortunately, I can't say for certain. I'm willing to get down
>> when I
>> have a clear memory, but, in this case, "maybe" is the best that I can
>> do. FWIW, I remember "Five on the up high. Now, five on the down low.
>> Now, five on the black(hand) side," from the middle '70's.
>>
>> On the other hand, what I tend to regard as the original form,
>> "Give me
>> some skin, friend!" my mother heard and used when she was in
>> college in
>> the late '20's and early '30's, if that's of any interest. She also
>> knows "okey-dokey" from those days.
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
>>> Wilson Gray wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>>> Subject: GEICO ad
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>>> --------
>>>
>>> Is anyone else familiar with the GEICO ad in which a squirrel
>> causes a
>>> driver to run off the road, then joins a fellow squirrel in a
>>> celebratory round of hand-shaking, palm-slapping, fist-tapping,
>> etc.?> Such a routine is known as "bapping-and-dapping" in the Los
>> Angeles> area. I first heard this term used in 1966, at the First
>> Watts> Festival. A company of black Vietnam vets participating in
>> the festival
>>> parade performed such a routine as they marched along. After the
>>> parade, I asked the vets what that routine was called and was
>> told that
>>> it was called "bapping-and-dapping." Apparently, this term is
>> unknown> outside of the Los angeles Basin. I've never met anyone
>> from elsewhere
>>> who was familiar with the term, regardless of that person's
>> race, sex,
>>> color, creed, sexual orientation, or branch of service.
>>>
>>> -Wilson Gray
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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