Jump sturdy (was Re: New movie)

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jan 24 17:02:39 UTC 2008


My guess is that it's "Jump Study" ("study" [st^dI] is a very common
BE pronunciation of "steady"), with "study" eggcorned to "sturdy" and
is a nickname for someone who's a good dancer or, perhaps, someone who
steady be dancing or, perhaps, someone whose signature dance (her
"number") is the "jump steady," of which, in the 'Sixties in L.A.,
there were two versions: one American and one African.

WRT "number" as "signature dance," my mother, b.1913, used to tell me
that, when she was a teenager, a popular dance was the "black bottom"
( from "every tub on its own black bottom"?) and our cousin, Lois,
"owned" it. When people wanted to see the dance done best, they would
say, "Do your number, Lois!"

-Wilson

On 1/24/08, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Jump sturdy (was Re: New movie)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Veering off in another direction entirely, can anyone shed light on a name
> in a Dr. John song for me? The chorus:
>
> > Jump Sturdy, Jump Sturdy was her name.
>
> She came out the swamp like a crazy fool.
> >
>
> m a m
>
> On Jan 19, 2008 3:28 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I've never heard "jump ugly," but that could be due to the fact that,
> > having reached an advanced state of maturity, I no longer hang out on
> > much corner and, therefore, have far less knowledge of what up than I
> > had in my younger days. However, IM perhaps obsolescent O, they all
> > should mean the same: "become (unexpectedly) insulting," as opposed to
> > "jump salty," meaning "become (unexpectedly) angry." Though, if
> > someone told me that "jump ugly" actually meant the same as "jump
> > salty," I'd certainly be more than willing to sit corrected.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
>
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>


--
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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