[Ads-l] For HDAS, 2nd ed.? ;-)

[Wilson Gray]

Some may recall a comment that I posted WRT the phrase, "laid to the bone."
In HDAS, under _laid_ adj., this is glossed simply as "drunk." Since this
meaning is one about which I know nozzing, I was moved to comment, because,
in my seventy years of experience with the phrase, its only meaning has
been, approx., "of males, (extremely) well-dressed; on the cutting edge of
fashion."

OTOH, if an interested academic or independent scholar, should, for
whatever reason, dig on the word, _bone_ n. In phrases, he will find that
"laid to the bone," without reference to the definition under _laid_, is
glossed as "wearing one's best clothes; all dressed up; sharp as a
skeeter's peter."

Close enough for government work.

Farther down the page, Majors & Billson,1992  _Cool Pose__ are quoted:

"He wearing the very popular silk mohair wool worsted - continental to the
bone."

This is a shortening and rip-off of a verse from the 1956 song, "Clothes
Line," written by Kent Harris and recorded by him under the name, "Boogaloo
& His Gallant Crew." AFAIK, there is no connection between this pseudonym
and the later dance-steps, the boogaloo and the (Latin) bugalú.

http://goo.gl/StXVdR

for anyone overcome by idle curiosity and'or interested in hearing BE from
back in the day.
-- 
-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

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