[Ads-l] _hit in the face with the ugly stick_

[Charles C Doyle]

Song by Bo Diddly (1955)--as transcribed online:  "You look like you've bin whooped with a ugly stick."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfWlXkr_HM8


Charlie


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 8:57:27 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: _hit in the face with the ugly stick_

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: _hit in the face with the ugly stick_
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Green's Dictionary of Slang has:

_beat with an ugly stick_ (v.) (also _hit over the head with an/the ugly
stick_, _slap..._, _whip...)
1. (Aus./US) to cause to be unattractive; often as a supposed reason for
one=E2=80=99s lack of good looks, e.g. _he was beat with an ugly stick_.
1985 [Aus] B. Humphries _Traveller=E2=80=99s Tool_ 20: You=E2=80=99d swear =
they=E2=80=99d all been
hit over the head with the ugly stick.
1989 [US] P. Munro _Sl. U._ 28: be beat with an ugly stick / be slapped
with an ugly stick / be whipped with an ugly stick to be ugly (often used
as a reason for why someone should be ugly).
1996=E2=80=932000 [US] (con. 1940s) Deuce Ofay Productions =E2=80=98The Jiv=
e Bible=E2=80=99 at
JiveOn.com [Internet] Angela, what you doin=E2=80=99 wit=E2=80=99 Rick? He =
=E2=80=99bout as low as
you can go wit=E2=80=99 out somebody takin=E2=80=99 the ugly stick to yo=E2=
=80=99 head!
2010 [UK] K. Richards _Life_ 134 Your old lady=E2=80=99s so ugly, I had to =
chase
her away with an ugly stick.


On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 8:55 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:

> "Hit with the ugly stick" (no reference to "face") rings a bell, although
> I can't place it.  Newspapers.com has "whupped with an ugly stick" in thr=
ee
> examples from 1959, all in Texas newspapers.  One of these is "whupped wi=
f
> a ugly stick," which probably is an imitation of African-American speech,
> but the other two are standard English except for "whupped."
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jim Parish
> Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 5:24 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: _hit in the face with the ugly stick_
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 5:05 PM, Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> the "ugly stick", which did physical damage and also decreased the
> >> Charisma of the victim.
> >
> > Specifically when the victim was "hit in the face with the ugly stick"?
> >
> I think the phrase which inspired me was something like "bein' whupped
> with the ugly stick".
>
>
>

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