Goody two shoes

Sat Mar 1 01:45:01 UTC 2014

At 2/28/2014 05:56 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>Michael Quinion presented an analysis of "Goody two shoes" in an entry
>at World Wide Words. In 1765 the oft reprinted work "The History of
>Little Goody Two-Shoes" was published in London. "Goody two shoes" was
>the nickname of a character.
>
>http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-goo2.htm
>
>At the end of the article Michael remarked on an interesting earlier
>instance of phrase:
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>As an etymological aside, the anonymous author of the original story -
>it has been attributed most often to Oliver Goldsmith, though Charles
>Lamb and Newbery himself have also been suggested - may not have
>invented the expression. A correspondent to Notes and Queries in 1904
>pointed out that goody two shoes appears in a burlesque poem by
>Charles Cotton, A Voyage to Ireland, of 1694, as a cant term for a
>bad-tempered housewife...
>[End exerpt]
>
>Below is a note in 1890 asserting that "Goody Two-shoes" was employed in 1670.

And "Gammar Two Shooes" was employed in 1665, in New England (by, I
would suppose, the son of a recent immigrant from England).  Sorry I
didn't read this earlier.

Joel

>Periodical: American Notes and Queries
>Date: May 3, 1890
>Quote Page 3
>Publisher: Westminister Publishing Company, Philadeliphia, Pennsylvania
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=yREAAAAAYAAJ&q=%22then%2C+Goody%22#v=snippet&
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>GOODY TWO-SHOES.
>
>The little story of Goody Two-shoes is often ascribed to Goldsmith.
>But in Cotton's burlesque, "Voyage to Ireland" (1670), when the poet
>was dining with the mayor of Chester:
>
>"Mistress mayoress complained that the pottage was cold;
>
>'And all 'long of your fiddle-faddle,' quoth she.
>
>'Why, then, Goody Two-shoes, what if it be?
>
>Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle,'" quoth he.
>
>Here "Goody Two-shoes" is a nickname, and apparently one of contempt,
>bestowed by the husband upon his wife. The quotation shows, at least,
>that Goldsmith did not invent the name or title of the little story.
>Ipsico
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 4:28 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: "weenie", the alternative "MacGuffin"? And
> other movie terms
> >               from 1946
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Feb 28, 2014, at 1:51 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >
> >> Why is "goodie" good, but "goodie two-shoes" not so good?...
> >
> > "goodie-goodie" isn't so good either.  Too good to be true/too
> good for one's own good.  Not sure where the two shoes came from, though.
> >
> > LH
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 5:48 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> 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:      "weenie", the alternative "MacGuffin"? And other
> movie terms
> >>> from
> >>>              1946
> >>>
> >>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> New York Herald Tribune, 20 October 1946 (Sunday), THIS WEEK
> >>> magazine, article "Cliff-Hangers", by William Roberts, pp. 15, 26, & 27.
> >>>
> >>> This article about the current process of producing movie serials has
> >>> the following:
> >>>
> >>> "The most important element of a serial plot is the 'weenie,' that
> >>> is, the object of all the mayhem that takes place from episodes one
> >>> to 13.  [Later, the writer indicates that 13 is the last
> >>> episode.]  The weenie can be a map, a document, a mine, an oriental
> >>> scarab with mystic powers, an invention, or, as in one case, a Nazi
> >>> plot to gain control of 'Middle Africa.' To justify the number of
> >>> people done to death during the course of the action, the weenie must
> >>> have fabulous importance attached to it. It must be the most valuable
> >>> map, document, mine, etc., in the world."  P. 26, col. 3.
> >>>
> >>> The weenie has some similarity to the MacGuffin, at least as
> >>> explained by Wikipedia: "a plot device in the form of some goal,
> >>> desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues,
> >>> often with little or no narrative explanation. The specific nature of
> >>> a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot. The most
> >>> common type of MacGuffin is an object, place or person; other types
> >>> include money, victory, glory, survival, power, love, or other things
> >>> unexplained."
> >>>
> >>> I will not try to analyze the difference, since I am not a recognized
> >>> film critic or lexicographer.
> >>>
> >>> "weenie" in this sense is not in OED3.
> >>>
> >>> Other movie terms claimed by the article (p. 27, cols. 2 and 3) are:
> >>>
> >>> "clean heavy": the leading heavy, "the suave, sinister figure behind
> >>> the villainy".  Not in OED3 ("heavy", short for "heavy villain", is).
> >>>
> >>> "dirty (or "dog") heavy": "the wretch who performs the strong-arm
> >>> thuggery".  Neither is in OED3.
> >>>      "dirty heavy": GBooks has several.  One is alleged to be
> >>> Collier's Illustrated Weekly - Volume 81 - Page 12 (1928): "In motion
> >>> pictures we have light heavies, heavies and dirty heavies, and the
> >>> ex-pug of the cauliflower ears and broken nose is usually cast as a
> >>> dirty heavy."  Others are 1982, 1989, 1990, 1994.
> >>>      "dog heavy": GBooks alleges several.  1947, Billboard - Nov 1,
> >>> 1947 - Page 49 ("dirty-dog heavies"; full view); 1952/1954; and 1960s
> >>> through 2013.
> >>>
> >>> "goodie" (or "goody"): hero, heroine, or ally.  Not in OED3.  GBooks
> >>> has at least 2007 (Take Me to Your Leader), but even with "movies"
> >>> added too many to search through.
> >>>
> >>> "cheater-cut":  "the introduction of a few feet of film showing a
> >>> hitherto-unnoticed avenue of escape for the intended victim."  Not in
> >>> OED3.  GBooks has 1973 (An illustrated glossary of film terms), 1977,
> >>> 1979, and a few later, mostly definitions rather than use.
> >>>
> >>> American Notes & Queries - Volume 6 - Page 119 (1946?) appears to
> >>> quote from the NYHT article ... or vice versa.  GBooks, snippet.
> >>>
> >>> I can send a PDF to those who wish one. (The article itself is an
> >>> amusing take on the production of serials.)
> >>>
> >>> Joel
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>>
> >>
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