more seat-of-the-pants etymology for our delectation

[Mark Mandel]

Well! Don't keep that correct information to yourself and us, edit the damn
WP article! That's what WP is about.

Mark Mandel


On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 12:37 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> The NYT BR notes that Blount cites what I would consider to be an
> *extremely* rare word: _hully gully_, usually spelled witha hyphen,
> amongst the colored. I'm impresed that Blount is aware of its
> existence. Astoundingly, IMO, the hully-gully is mentioned in
> Wikipedia:
>
> "The Hully Gully was started by Frank Rocco at the Cadillac Hotel in
> Miami Beach Florida."
>
> Unfortunately, no date is supplied. The article goes on to state:
>
> "The rock group, the Olympics, sang the song "Hully Gully", in 1959,
> which involved no physical contact at all."
>
> This is nearly correct. It should read more like:
>
> "The Los Angeles-based rhythm-&-blues group, The Olympics, otherwise
> known to the wider world only, if at all, for having originally
> recorded the song later covered and made famous by The Young Rascals,
> 'Good Lovin',' in 1959 recorded a song entitled, 'Baby Hully-Gully'."
>
> As far as I'm aware, this is the first appearance of "hully-gully" in
> the black community and I'm certain that it occurred there only in the
> song title and as the name of a once-popular dance.
>
> Historical note: Olympic Boulevard was the northern boundary of said
> community, back in the day. The singing group, made up of Angelenos,
> took its name from the name of the street.
>
> The song itself is probably the best example of call-and-response
> singing in black popular music ever recorded. I resist the very strong
> temptation to supply the lyrics, though they be of no particular
> interest, WRT dialect.
>
> ["Mama hully-gully / Papa hully-gully / Baby hully-gully, too"]
>
> -Wilson
>

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