Mildly disagreeing with HDAS (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Dialog from the movie Airplane:

Randy: Can I get you something? 
Second Jive Dude: 'S'mofo butter layin' me to da' BONE! Jackin' me up... tight me! 
Randy: I'm sorry, I don't understand. 
First Jive Dude: Cutty say 'e can't HANG! 
Jive Lady: Oh, stewardess! I speak jive. 
Randy: Oh, good. 
Jive Lady: He said that he's in great pain and he wants to know if you can help him.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 3:07 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Mildly disagreeing with HDAS
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> --------
> 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
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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