Shining On

[carole crompton]

In my crowd, shining some one on meant ignoring them. (LA in the 60's).

On Saturday, July 9, 2005, at 08:37 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> Subject:      Shining On
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>
> Some here may remember a post in which I told of failing to note the
> information regarding a piece that I heard on my car radio, presumably
> entitled, "Don't Shine Me On," because my mind was otherwise occupied
> with inventing the term "pimpmobile" and imparting it to my ace boon,
> who was riding in the death seat. Thanks to Google, I can now impart to
> all the formerly-lacking information.
>
> The name of the piece *is* _Don't Shine Me On_. It was recorded in 1963
> on the Foremost label by an otherwise unknown group called Frankie &
> The Dell Stars." It's a recitation in which Frankie attempts to talk
> three chicks, presumably the Dell Tones, into taking a ride with him.
> The chicks discuss his proposition and one asks, "Should we shine him
> on?" The other two reply, "Yes. Let's shine him on." Hearing this,
> Frankie exclaims, "Don't shine me on!" and proceeds to list places in
> the local L.A. area that he would be happy to drive them to. The end.
>
> As currently used, "don't shine me on" means "don't scam/scan me, don't
> bullshit me,' etc. The original meaning is clearly, "Don't brush me
> off."
>
> -Wilson Gray
>