Mildly disagreeing with HDAS

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yeah, Wilson, I can recall "I shoulda stood in bed!" because it was still
big on '50s TV (my Yale and Harvard).

In the '70s and '80s, my students frequently listed "laid" as synonym for
nattily dressed. You mean I misinterpreted Herbert Simmons? Aiiieeeeee!!!!
(Seriously. Bummer.)

"Changes" is a revealing item. I remember trying to decide what was slangy
about such utterances as, "I've been going through a lot of changes, man!"

Maybe it was just the addition of "man."  (One time Kramer was afriaid that
Jerry had gotten mixed up with a drug dealer. He asked in panic, "Did he
say 'split'?  Did he say, 'man'????!!!!!")

Then I decided no, "changes" meant for than "reorientations."

Moreover, Wilson's days on the dark side have been a boon to
sociolinguistic research. When will he write an academic book that makes it
all boring?

JL


On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 4:07 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Mildly disagreeing with HDAS
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> HDAS: laid adj. Black E. 1. laid-back, 2. 1962 H[erbert] Simmons _[Man
> Walking] On Eggshells_ 174: He stayed laid all the time.
>
> Herb Simmons is a native St. Louisan and a frat-brother of mine who was the
> guest of honor/featured speaker at my "ship's" post-initiation banquet, in
> 1957. In St. Louis, "laid" is only "well-dressed." "He stayed laid all the
> time" means, "He was always well-dressed." He's older than I am, so his
> phraseology is a taste stale. I would write, "He *stayed* laid!" The
> emphasis tells the hearer/reader that it was "all the time."
>
> 1972 Claerbaut _Black Jargon_ 71 _Laid to the bone_ ... drunk. a1994
> Smitherman _Black Talk_ 151: _Laid_... High on liquor or drugs.
>
> That these and other equally-authoritative sources, all post-1960 and none
> of them the Urban Dictionary, connect "laid (to the bone)" with drink
> and/or dope is a real surprise to me. Even Clarence Major goes for that
> shit, without a mention of "well-dressed." In *my* experience, "laid" is
> only "well-dressed" and "... to the bone" is only "very well dressed,
> dressed to a T/to the teeth," not only from back in the '40's, but also to
> this very day. It falls trippingly from the tongue of trash-TV's Judge Greg
> Mathis, a native of Detroit who wasn't even born till 1960, as well as from
> the tongues of his "guests" and from those of Jerry Springer's "guests."
>
> I've always intuited "laid" as ultimately derived from the concept of
> having a batman to lay out one's clothes for one and the well-dressed
> corpse laid out for a funeral. Apparently, others intuit a drunk laid out
> on the floor behind too much Thunderbird or some such. As usual,
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> I'm reminded of an Army buddy from the Crescent City who told me,
>
> "Man, when I was stationed at Fort Polk[, Louisiana], I *stood* in New
> Orleans!"
>
> Does anyone else recall the '40's, radio-days catch-phrase, "I should have
> stood in bed!"? Until I heard Roussell say "stood" where I would have said
> "stayed," I had *no* idea WTF that catch-phrase was supposed to mean. Like,
> what could *possibly* be the point of standing in bed?
>
>
> --
> -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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