[Ads-l] Request 01: Quote: [Dancing is] a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire

Fri Sep 9 15:17:42 UTC 2016

Not much later than Montaigne's 1580, when he observed that "the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched" (according to Wikipedia), we find:
Dauncinge(yea though mixt) I would not simply condemne. For I see two sorts of mixt dauncingsin vse with Gods people in the Old Testament. The one religious Exod. 15.20.21.The other ciuill, tendinge, to the praise of conquerors, as the former of God,1 Sam. 16.6.7. Only lasciuious dauncinge to wanton dittyes, & in amorousgestures & wanton dalliances especially after great feasts I would bearewitnes against, as against Flabella Libidinis. John Cotton, 1625 (Boston, England).

Joel

      From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Friday, September 9, 2016 9:57 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Request 01: Quote: [Dancing is] a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire

The suspicion that certain dances were sublimations of  actual ****ing goes
back at least as far as the introduction of the waltz in the 16th century.

It was one of the first dances in which the partners actually held each
other.

Before that, no prob.

After that, twerking.

JL

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 10:15 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Great thanks to Jesse Sheidlower who accessed the PDF in Proquest.
> Here are the details:
>
> [ref] 1962 March 23, New Statesman, Late Perpendicular by George
> Melly, Start Page 426, Quote Page 426, Column 3, New Statesman Ltd.,
> London. (ProQuest)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> I have spent a certain amount of time lately watching people in London
> dance in the various new ways. I report what went on in three very
> different places where my fellow countrymen and women had come
> together to give what Shaw called 'a perpendicular expression of a
> horizontal desire'.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1970 George Melly published a book about pop culture, and he
> reprinted the column containing the saying that he wrote for the
> Guardian in 1962. Here are the introductory words he wrote:
>
> [ref] 1970, Revolt into Style: The Pop Arts in Britain by George
> Melly, Quote Page 66, Allen Lane: The Penguin Press, London. (Verified
> with scans)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> In the spring of 1962 Karl Miller, then Literary Editor of the New
> Statesman, asked me to write a piece on how people were dancing in
> London, for the twist, coinciding as it did with the arrival of the
> discotheque, those wombs of 'Swinging London', had sparked off a
> considerable terpsichorian revival. I reprint it here because I think
> it caught something of the pop atmosphere of that time. It was called
> 'Late Perpendicular'.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Below is the third earliest citation in 1968 which I am trying to
> verify. The book is available at the University of Georgia, Main
> Library 3rd floor sayeth the catalog.
>
> Year: 1968
> Title: Talking About It Helps
> Author: Anthony Nayman
> Publisher: Hutchinson, London
> Quote Page 97
> Database: Google Snippet; Data may be inaccurate
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> 'Are you taking me to the dance this weekend?' she asked.
> She knew every corner and cupboard in that building. This time the
> venue chosen for our cool sitting-out was a tiny committee room
> unfrequented by vertical expressors of horizontal desires.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1972 a letter published in the widely-syndicated column of Ann
> Landers criticized the practice of married women dancing closely with
> other men. Landers initial viewed such dancing as acceptable. However,
> the feedback she received was sharply negative, and in a later column
> Landers retracted her remarks.
>
> [ref] 1972 October 27, Tucson Daily Citizen, Young, fired-up execs
> could listen more by Ann Landers, Quote Page 43, Column 5, Tucson,
> Arizona. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Dear Houston: Since you obviously consider dancing a vertical
> expression of a horizontal idea, it's no wonder you and your wife are
> fighting about it. I see nothing evil about dancing cheek-to-cheek,
> breast-to-chest or belly-to-belly.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Barry Popik has a useful entry on this topic:
>
> “Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire”
> Entry from February 01, 2013
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/
> dancing_is_a_vertical_expression_of_a_horizontal_desire/
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 6:48 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm only familiar with its corollary as expressed in the old joke:
> >
> > Why can't Baptists have sex standing up?
> > Because it might lead to dancing.
> >
> >> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2016 17:17:34 -0400
> >> From: adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
> >> Subject: Request 01: Quote: [Dancing is] a perpendicular expression of
> a horizontal desire
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >> Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:      ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Request 01: Quote: [Dancing is] a perpendicular
> expression of a
> >>              horizontal desire
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
> >>
> >> I've been asked to trace the expression in the subject line which has
> >> been attributed to George Bernard Shaw. The Yale Books of Quotations
> >> (and other references) point to "New Statesman" on March 23, 1962.
> >>
> >> First request: I believe that the ProQuest Periodicals database has
> >> this, and I would love to see the full context. Perhaps someone would
> >> be willing to relay a PDF?
> >>
> >> Additional background information: I've found variants in which
> >> "perpendicular expression" is changed to "vertical expression" or
> >> "vertical manifestation". Also, "horizontal desire" is changed to
> >> "horizontal wish" or " horizontal idea".
> >>
> >> Here is a fun precursor maxim printed in a London periodical in 1914:
> >>
> >> [ref] 1914 April 16, The New Age: A Weekly Review of Politics,
> >> Literature, and Art, Volume 14, Number 24, Some Maxims on Americans,
> >> New York and Newport by Sebastian Sorrell, Quote Page 764, Column 2,
> >> The New Age Press, Ltd, London. (HathiTrust Full View)[/ref]
> >>
> >> [Begin excerpt]
> >> The Woolworth and Singer Buildings: The perpendicular expression for
> >> the horizontal growth of American fortunes.
> >> [End excerpt]
> >>
> >> Garson
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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