shit or go blind WAS Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917))

[Wilson Gray]

Unfortunately, I know it only from my years in the military in the
late 'Fifties and early 'Sixties. I may be the only person that I now
know who uses the expression. I like it because it's essentially
meaningless. But then, that's its point.

-Wilson

On Dec 9, 2007 7:57 PM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: shit or go blind WAS Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose
>               Like" (1917))
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >not knowing whether
> >to shit or go blind
>
> I love that expression and have not succeeded so far in finding an
> account of its origin. Any ideas, y'all?
>
> James Harbeck.
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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