[Ads-l] _drop the lip_

[Wilson Gray]

> "to betray the confidence of someone; to tell; to inform; to attack; to
betray."

That's close to the StL version, which also could mean "to embarrass
someone publicly." which is not far from "dis." OTOH, "to put
someone/something down" had only the old, blues meaning of "to end a
relationship with someone or something." As Lloyd Price sang about his
experience of the military in _Mailman Blues_, "This Army boogie, I believe
I'll put it down." To get what I think of as the "hippie meaning," we used
to say simply "to down someone/something." However, if you *really* wanted
to down someone, you could "talk about him like he had a tail."

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 6:31 AM, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Geneva Smitherman's _Black Talk_ defines 'scream on' as "to put someone
> down; to 'dis' a person."  Clarence Majors'  _Juba to Jive_ defines it as
> "to give away a secret or to betray the confidence of someone; to tell; to
> inform; to attack; to betray."
>
> --Margaret Lee
>
> On ‎Thursday‎, ‎March‎ ‎29‎, ‎2018‎ ‎09‎:‎42‎:‎39‎ ‎PM‎ ‎EDT, Wilson Gray <
> hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>
> '40's-'50's StL slang: "narc on, scream on*, rat out, drop a dime on," etc.
>
> *Back in the '60's, I heard Myron Cohen use "scream on" in the sense of
> "upbraid, harangue, fuss at." "Scream on" has these meanings in BE, too.
>
> Youneverknow.
>
>
> --
> -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
>



-- 
-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