Off the ol' hookeroo

Wed Apr 28 19:01:24 UTC 2010

OED is misleading on _buckaroo_. Its earliest exx. (1827, 1889,1890, 1904)
are far more like anglicized pronunciations of _vaquero_ than they are like
_buckaroo_.

Its first clear ex. of _buckeroo_ [sic] is from 1907.

However:

1881 _The Idaho Avalanche_ (Silver City) (March 19) (19th C. U.S.
Newspapers): John Connors, "the bad buckaroo."

With uncertain nuance:

1881 _Reno Evening Gazette_  (Oct. 18) (Newspaper Archive): Had another dead
thing on that Churchill buckeroo horse. Bet I can beat 'im runnin' myself.

It is thus just conceivable that U.S. _buckaroo_ orig. combined "bucker" and
"kangaroo" and was first applied to horses.  Awareness of "vaquero" may have
aided the transition.

"Buckaroo/buckeroo" becomes frequent only after ca1900.

For the form, cf. Australian "jackaroo/jackeroo" (OED:1878).

JL

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 2:18 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Off the ol' hookeroo
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 1:41 PM -0400 4/28/10, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >Buckaroo might be the oldest word of that form, going back to the 19th
> >century, but isn't such word play more a 20th century practice?
> >
> >This would seem to agree:
> >http://www.jstor.org/pss/486851
> >
> >DanG
>
> But if "buckaroo", as is often claimed, is simply a domesticated
> version of "vaquero" ('cowboy'), the birth of the -eroo/-aroo suffix
> would have been midwifed by a mid-20th century (pseudo-)reanalysis
> along the lines that gave rise to -oholic and more recently -gate.
>
> LH
>
> >
> >On 4/28/2010 1:09 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
> >>Subject:      Re: Off the ol' hookeroo
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
>  >>I suppose the meaning is clear:  Out of a difficult situation; off the
> spot.
> >>
> >>Presumably from "off the hook" -- OED hook n., sense 15.f. "off the
> >>hook: out of a difficult situation."  The opposite of "on the hook"
> >>--  sense 2.b. "on the hook: in various fig. uses, e.g. ensnared, in
> >>the power (of someone); in one's grasp."
> >>
> >>If the question is "where does *hookeroo* come from?", perhaps "hook"
> >>plus the "factitious slang suffix" (OED) -eroo.
> >>
> >>Joel
> >>
> >>At 4/28/2010 12:29 PM, Lisa Galvin wrote:
> >>
> >>>A friend of mine is a translator, and now and then she asks me
> >>>questions about particularly troublesome (meaning difficult to look
> >>>up, find online, etc.) English expressions she is faced with
> >>>translating into Japanese. Usually I can come up with answers for
> >>>her, along with some history and other examples, using my own
> >>>knowledge and a little research, but trying to nail this one down
> >>>got me stuck.
> >>>
> >>>This is a Peanuts comic where Lucy and Linus are having the
> >>>following exchange:
> >>>
> >>>==================================================
> >>>
> >>>LUCY: How sould you like to see a list of things I want for Christmas?
> >>>
> >>>LINUS: Absolutely not!! I want my gift to you this year to be a complete
> and
> >>>delightful surprise.
> >>>
> >>>LUCY: What a lovely generous thought...
> >>>
> >>>(and off she goes...)
> >>>
> >>>LINUS: Off the Ol' Hookeroo!!
> >>>
> >>>===================================================
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Of course the<ol'>  +<*eroo>  construction is a way of
> >>>colloqializing the expression "off the hook", but does anyone know
> >>>when that started or how to better define the construction and its
> >>>nuance of meaning?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>It's a tough one to Google (this one kept getting me "did you mean,
> >>>'old hooker'?" Uh, no, no I did not).
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>I know we have "The ol' switcheroo", any other examples you can think
> of?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Oh, and just for the record, she ended up translating this line as
> >>>something like "Good, I'm safe for now".
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Lisa Galvin
> >>>
> >>>Seattle WA
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
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