_Break nasty_ = "jump salty"

Tue May 4 04:51:44 UTC 2010

Jon, my guess, to paraphrase my wife, is that you simply "lack
sufficient interest"" in straight-to-cable, PG-13, "art" cinema. Well,
it's your loss, man. Sad on you. ;-). BTW, the title was precisely
"The Lambada, The Forbidden Dance."

BTW, isn't "good on you" present in at least some non-U.S. varieties
of English? OTOH, AFAIK, "sad on you" is peculiar to U,S. BE.

-Wilson

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _Break nasty_ = "jump salty"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I missed it, Wilson. How could I have done that?
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:07 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: _Break nasty_ =3D "jump salty"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> Have you seen the movie? Way less depressing than any of that
>> "Mandingo" crap and doesn't require any imagination, in the way that
>> "Voodoo Fire"  does! ;-)
>>
>> =3DWilson
>>
>> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: _Break nasty_ =3D "jump salty"
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >
>> > But what of the lambada, "the Forbidden Dance"?
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:04 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> Subject:      Re: _Break nasty_ =3D3D "jump salty"
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
>> > ------
>> >>
>> >> In the book, Voodoo Fire in Haiti, by Richard A. Loederer, 1932, the
>> >> "danse kalinda" is identified as pretty much the center of the voodoo
>> >> ceremony and also states that "la meringue," possibly the same dance
>> >> now known in Spanish as "la merengue," is the national dance of Haiti.
>> >> Nowadays, the merengue regarded as the national dance of the Dominican
>> >> Republic, called "Saint-Domingue" by Loederer.
>> >>
>> >> The only story that I've ever heard - don't remember where; it may
>> >> even have been in Voodoo Fire - WRT the origin of the merengue is that
>> >> a king of Haiti had a son with one leg shorter than the other and,
>> >> hence, the son was a very awkward dancer. Better dancers, not wanting
>> >> to piss off the king by making the kid look lame, no pun intended,
>> >> adapted the prince's movements to their own style of dancing, thereby
>> >> preserving his dignity and their own arses.
>> >>
>> >> If you're familiar with the merengue's basic steps, this story seems
>> >> quite plausible. But that would still be the case, if the story had
>> >> merely been pulled out of somebody's ass. AFAIK, nowadays nobody
>> >> mentions any such Haitian dance as la merinqu=3DE9 or connects the
>> >> Dominican merengue with Haiti.
>> >>
>> >> I wouldn't bet money that the story was true.
>> >>
>> >> IAC, Loederer writes:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "The marimba band started a melody of strangely cloying and oppressive
>> >> rhythm.
>> >> A murmur ran around the room: _'La Merinque!_'
>> >> _The national dance of Haiti!_
>> >> Against a background of ponderous vibrations, the tune sobbed through
>> >> the smoky air in a monstrous abortion of the tango. It was a strange
>> >> dance. It was more than a dance=3D96a ritual performance, an ovation t=
> o
>> >> love, the ultimate love symbolized in the pairs of bodies, male and
>> >> female, so closely entwined as to be molten into one by the fierce
>> >> heat of their desire. They swayed over the floor, flexing this way and
>> >> that, eyes closed, mouths open, forgetting everything in the rapture
>> >> of their embrace and the subtle discords of the music."
>> >>
>> >> And WRT to the dance Kalinda:
>> >>
>> >> "It was the great purification. Only after a baptism of blood can the
>> >> good spirit Damballa enter the soul. A broad-shouldered, athletic
>> >> negro jumped up in front of me and shouted: 'Commencons! Danse
>> >> Calinda!' ...
>> >> A solid ring of naked, sweaty formed around the fire. They were
>> >> dancing the Calinda! More and more performers joined in, bodies
>> >> pressed close against one another, men and women, rubbing body to body
>> >> in the red glow of the flames. The irregular circle of a hundred
>> >> bodies molten into one Hydra-headed monster was carried along on
>> >> jerking bodies and stamping feet. The drums rolled faster. The black
>> >> throng revolved with ever-increasing rapidity. Around and around they
>> >> went, as the ground shook under the impact of two hundred feet!"
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Whew!
>> >>
>> >> -Wilson
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 11:22 PM, 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:      Re: _Break nasty_ =3D3D "jump salty"
>> >> >
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
>> > ------
>> >> >
>> >> > Then there may well be a connection. And I shouldn't have called it =
> "a
>> >> Dr.
>> >> > John song": Dr. John (Mack Rebennack) recorded a version of it on
>> >> > "Gris-Gris" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gris-Gris), but I have no
>> ide=3D
>> > a
>> >> > whether he wrote it.
>> >> >
>> >> > I found the album in the basement, and I still don't know. The song =
> is
>> >> > credited as "By Dr. John Creaux", another form of his in-character
>> stag=3D
>> > e
>> >> > name. But "Danse Kalinda Ba Doom" is credited "By Dr. John Creaux &
>> >> Harold
>> >> > Battiste", while the jacket notes (=3D3DC2=3D3DA9 1968 Atlantic Reco=
> rding
>> >> Corporati=3D3D
>> >> > on)
>> >> > suggest that it's based on a trad. song:
>> >> >
>> >> > I HAVE ALSO DUG UP THE OLD DANSE KALINDA TO REMIND YOU WE HAVE NOT
>> >> CHOPPED
>> >> > OUT THE OLD CHANTS... [uppercase sic].
>> >> >
>> >> > Maybe I'll ask the Digital Tradition / Mudcat Forum, but not tonight=
> .
>> >> >
>> >> > (Whoops, I see I conflated the idioms this morning, typing "jump
>> nasty"
>> >> > instead of "jump steady".)
>> >> >
>> >> > Mark Mandel
>> >> >
>> >> > On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 7:57 PM, George Thompson
>> <george.thompson at nyu.ed=3D
>> > u
>> >> >wr=3D3D
>> >> > ote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> I months or so ago I heard Louis Armstrong sing a number with the
>> >> >> expression "Jump Study" in the refrain.  Definitely "Study", not
>> >> "Steady"
>> >> >> (which would make some sense) or "Sturdy"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Probably dated from the later 1930s or ealy 1940s.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> GAT
>> >> >>
>> >> >> George A. Thompson
>> >> >> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
>> Northwestern
>> >> >> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> >> From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com>
>> >> >> Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010 10:51 am
>> >> >> Subject: Re: _Break nasty_ =3D3D3D "jump salty"
>> >> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > Interesting. I had not heard or seen either of these idioms befor=
> e.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > "Jump nasty" immediately reminded me of a Dr. John song (N.Orlean=
> s,
>> >> >> sixties
>> >> >> > - present) with the chorus
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Jump Sturdy, Jump Sturdy was her name.
>> >> >> > She came out the swamp like a crazy fool.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > But I don't see any plausible connection. (The song, titled "Jump
>> >> >> Sturdy",
>> >> >> > is on his first LP, "*Gris-Gris"*, issued in the late sixties.)
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > m a m
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > On Sat, May 1, 2010 at 6:04 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>> wrote=3D
>> > :
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > > Now in UD, with a surprising-reasonable set of definitions, fro=
> m
>> >> 2005=3D3D
>> >> > .
>> >> >> > >
>> >> >> > > Otherwise, as far as the Web is concerned, _break nasty_ occurs
>> on=3D
>> > ly
>> >> >> > > in the environment immediately before "... habits."
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> -Wilson
>> >> =3D96=3D96=3D96
>> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=3D96=3D96a strange comp=
> laint
>> t=3D
>> > o
>> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >> =3D96Mark Twain
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --=3D20
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> =96=96=96
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint t=
> o
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>  =96Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
-Wilson
–––
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.
–Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org