bogeying=boogying

Wed Jun 22 22:00:58 UTC 2005

Now I've recalled it. The name of the movie is "No Way Out." As far as
I'm able to remember, there was no obvious connection between the title
and the plot. I hate when that happens.

-Wilson Gray

On Jun 21, 2005, at 6:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: bogeying=boogying
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> My experience as a trained language professional suggests that the
> epithet "boogie" was mainly used by lower-class thuggish types in the
> Northeast.  First printed cites are from the early '20s, IIRC, but if
> the ety. is correct it must be much older. My perception is that it's
> still around, but on the way out at last.
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: bogeying=boogying
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Jun 21, 2005, at 10:59 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: bogeying=boogying
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> My grandmother's NYC word for this (from her 1890s childhood) was
>> "boogie."
>>
>> I did not know the same word (< "bogey") in a different sense as an
>> ethnic epithet until I was a teenager.
>>
>> JL
>>
>
> I can understand that. I heard "boogie" used as a slur once in a movie
> and I've read it in fiction. But I've never heard it used that way by
> anyone in real life. I can't recall the title of the movie, but it was
> released in 1950 and it was the first vehicle to pair Richard Widmark
> and Sidney Poitier as its stars, if anyone cares. Rich was the
> working-class, bigoted
> white guy and Sid was [surprise!] the saintly, whiter-than-white, black
> ER doctor who treated Rich after the white rioters lost to the black
> rioters. The line was, I think, "I saw a boogie drivin' a Cadillac a
> block long!"
>
> -Wilson
>
>> Amorelli wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Amorelli
>> Subject: Re: bogeying=boogying
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> I'm sorry but the only 'bogey' I'm familiar with...:))..is those
>> little hard
>> balls of snot that unpleasant kids in class used to squish under the
>> surface
>> of the desk tops for all-comers to find. Mind you, this is Brit.E.
>> circa
>> 1970s.
>> M.I.Amorelli
>> EAP, Faculties of Economics and Law,
>> Sassari
>
> Don't we call those "boogers" here in the colonies? FWIW, in BE,
> "booger" can be used with a variety of meanings under various
> conditions. E.g., when I was in the Army, a black NCO, noting my size -
> 6' 4" and 210 lbs. - exclaimed, "Damn! You a BIK[sic, via BE emotional
> devoicing] booguh, aintcha?!"
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Michael McKernan"
>> To:
>> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 7:30 AM
>> Subject: bogeying=boogying
>>
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>>> header -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Michael McKernan
>>> Subject: bogeying=boogying
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -
>>> ---------
>>>
>>> Found this 'bogey' today while googling something else:
>>>
>>>> Report from the Florida Fiery Foods Show
>>>> After an oyster dinner, I started bogeying on the dance floor with
>>>> my
>>>> niece Emily
>>>> DeWitt, then with Mary Jane. No one there had ever seen me dance,
>>>> ...
>>>> www.fiery-foods.com/zine-industry/flashow.html - 12k - Cached -
>>>> Similar
>>>> pages
>>>
>>> Google hits: boogying 18,600
>>> boogieing 7,490
>>>
>>> While there are nearly 14,000 google hits for 'bogeying', all that I
>>> saw
>>> (a
>>> very brief glance) pertain to golf 'bogeys,' rather than the
>>> 'boogie'-derived usage here, but at least some other boogie/bogeys
>>> turn
>>> up:
>>>
>>>> Midnight menu at Right Place
>>>> Today, Chennai conjures images of BPOs, discothèques and party
>>>> animals
>>>> bogeying
>>>> into the wee hours of the night. The city, indeed, never sleeps! ...
>>>> www.chennaionline.com/hotelsandtours/
>>>> Restaurants/2005/03rightplace.asp -
>>>> 67k - Jun 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
>>>>
>>>> Discover Native America 2001
>>>> ... just inches from the drummers, slamming, thrashing, striking the
>>>> heat
>>>> taut
>>>> hides, the drums, suspended on wooden pegs, undulating, bogeying,
>>>> shimmying. ...
>>>> www.cgcas.org/dna.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
>>>>
>>>> Jazz | JazzTimes Magazine > Reviews > Concert Reviews
>>>> Jumping, twirling, dropping to their knees and just plain bogeying,
>>>> the
>>>> group
>>>> worked up a sweat that of course led to their abandoning their fancy
>>>> pinstripe ...
>>>> www.jazztimes.com/reviews/ concert_reviews/detail.cfm?article=10318
>>>> - 32k
>>>> - Cached - Similar pages
>>>>
>>>> The Blues Audience newsletter
>>>> Sugar Ray & The Bluetones got the crowd out on the floor, dancing,
>>>> and
>>>> kept them
>>>> bogeying all night long. With "Monster" Mike Welch on guitar, ...
>>>> www.bluesaudience.com/sugarray.htm - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
>>>>
>>>> DwightOzard.com | Lover's Quarrel Article: Dance, White Boy, Dance
>>>> ...
>>>> Call it what you want-"getting down," "bogeying," "tripping Dick
>>>> Clark and
>>>> the
>>>> light-fantastic," whatever-but when James Brown comes on, there is
>>>> only
>>>> one ...
>>>> www.dwightozard.com/lq-article.asp?id=78 - 22k - Cached - Similar
>>>> pages
>>>>
>>>> USCG Auxiliary 1SR
>>>> Bogeying on the tarmac.Tom Negri, FC 13-06 starting the twist
>>>> contest, A
>>>> closer
>>>> view of the castle which captured the hearts of the kids. ...
>>>> www.cgaux1sr.org/photo/d13Blessing/div13Blessing.htm - 11k - Cached
>>>> -
>>>> Similar pages
>>>
>>> Etc.
>>>
>>> Not sure if this qualifies for eggcorn status.
>>>
>>> Michael McKernan
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>>> Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.7.8/22 - Release Date:
>>> 17/06/2005
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> Yahoo! Mail Mobile
>> Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone.
>>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>