Good looking out

[Wilson Gray]

It was pretty much common in all circles, by then. I first heard it in
the 'Fifties in Saint Louis. It's a *really* old-fashioned expression,
almost as antiquated as "Gimme some skin, friend!", which I first
heard spoken by my mother when I was but a little tad, down in Texas.
Well, not quite as old as that, but it's not new. IIRC, Flexner-nim,
or somebody 'nother, has it. IAC, I've definitely seen it in print,
though perhaps only in Ebony. Back in the day, Ebony catalogued
monthly the latest in slang, music, editorial cartoons ["The song
(lynching) is ended, but the melody (racism) lingers on"], and even
manners ("The woman speaks first, when passing a male casual
acquaintance on the street, unless she wishes to discourage further
attention from him"). My impression is that Jackson uses it as a kind
of inside-joke shibboleth. I.e., if you pick up on it as the newest
thing, you reveal yourself as unutterably square and probably boojie,
perhaps even white.

-Wilson

On 2/12/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Good looking out
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Tim Warner of the blog Mother Tongue Annoyances posted a query about
> the expression "Good looking out," much favored by "American Idol"
> judge Randy Jackson as an all-purpose valediction to departing
> contestants (also apparently used in a similar style by Tim Westwood,
> host of the UK version of MTV's "Pimp My Ride") :
>
> http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=672
>
> Tim wonders about the origin and etymology of the expression, which
> tended to mean "Thanks for helping me out" (i.e., "Thanks for looking
> out for me") before taking on the generalized valedictory usage of
> Jackson et al. One blogger labels the newer, blander sense a "flagrant
> misuse":
>
> http://murderation.com/blog/2006/02/good-lookin-out-dog.html
>
> Tim found some indirect evidence of the expression's use since the
> '70s. I commented that saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded a song
> called "Good Lookin' Out" in April 1966, so it might  already have
> been common in jazz circles by then.
>
> Anyone have additional insight? Wilson?
>
>
> --Ben Zimme
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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