Alley-Oop

[Wilson Gray]

On Apr 7, 2005 4:44 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Alley-Oop
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 04:29:39 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
>
> >I found "allez-oop" back to 1923 in a circus context.
> [...]
> >-----
> >1923 _Chronicle Telegram_ (Elyria, Ohio) 1 Feb. 11/2 Allez-oop! Hoop-la!
> >Popcorn, peanuts and pink lemonade!!! Everybody seems to be ready for the
> >big circus except the public.
> >-----
>
> There are no doubt many earlier variations on this.  Joseph Conrad's short
> story "The Idiots" (written 1896, published in _Tales of Unrest_ 1898) has
> "Allez! Houp!"
>
> -----
> http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/joseph_conrad/tales_of_unrest/6/
> "Hey! Come out!" shouted Jean-Pierre, loudly.
> The nightingales ceased to sing.
> "Nobody?" went on Jean-Pierre. "Nobody there. A swindle of the crows.
> That's what this is. Nobody anywhere. I despise it. Allez! Houp!"
> -----
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>

I've wondered for at least a half-century how the "oop" was spelled in
French. Good on you, Ben, for discovering it!

-Wilson Gray