[Ads-l] Green's: "shine someone on (v.)"

[Jim Parish]

I always interpreted it as "(let the sun) shine on it" - i.e., leave it 
alone. But that interpretation dates back to the whippersnapper I was 
forty-some years ago, in Santa Barbara.

Jim Parish


On 2/23/2018 6:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> This always seemed to me to be a very weird locution. Why "shine on"?
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 5:56 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> It seemed to mean "to skip out or not show up for" some meeting or
>> responsibility.
>>
>> I can't recall whether I've heard it used that way, but that use makes
>> perfect sense, as in, i.e.:
>>
>> a) Wanna go to that meeting, tonight?
>> b) Let's shine it on.
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 3:53 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> was from Trenton, NJ, and the person that I knew who used "Shine it on"
>>> the most was a childhood friend from StL.
>>>
>>> I have only heard it used by a couple of guys in Alaska - who were from
>>> Buffalo (and proud of it).  It seemed to mean "to skip out or not show up
>>> for" some meeting or responsibility.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 1:56 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> mainly from California.
>>>> The only place that I ever heard it, before hearing it a few times on
>> TV
>>> in
>>>> the last dekkid, was Los Angeles. But, since everybody in L.A. is from
>>>> somewhere else, the first person that I heard use it - in the phrase,
>>> "[He]
>>>> shined my black ass on!" - was from Trenton, NJ, and the person that I
>>> knew
>>>> who used "Shine it on" the most was a childhood friend from StL.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 11:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> The early HDAS exx. of "shine it on" are mainly from California.
>>>>>
>>>>> JL
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 2:35 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>>>> "(also put someone on (the) shine, shine it on, shine on someone)
>>>> [euph.
>>>>>> shit n. (1)]
>>>>>> [1960s+] (US black) to ignore, to disdain."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm familiar with "shine someone on," in my experience, the
>> original
>>>>>> phrase, and the later variant, "shine it on," with the
>> meaning,"don't
>>>>>> bother (about it), never mind, don't give it a second thought" or,
>> to
>>>>> quote
>>>>>> a line from the *movie* - it doesn't occur in the novel, I've been
>>>> told -
>>>>>> The Pawnbroker: "Cool it, baby! Don't get up tight!" The other two
>>>> alsos
>>>>>> I've never heard. If "[euph. shit n. (1)]" is meant to suggest an
>>>>>> etymology, then it's nonsense. Don't nobody use no euphemisms in
>> the
>>>>> 'hood.
>>>>>> Y'all motherfuckers ought to know that.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Don't Shine Me On - Part 1, Part 2 - 1963
>>>>>> (Frank Robinson)
>>>>>> Frankie & The Del Stars
>>>>>> Foremost Record Company 785
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The record is later than the phrase, by about a year - who can
>> really
>>>>> know
>>>>>> when a catch-phrase originated? - and was not at all successful. I
>>>> heard
>>>>> it
>>>>>> only once. But, its lack of success makes it rare, rarity makes it
>>>>>> collectible, and so it turns up on YouTube.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVEfXVP7gGo
>>>>>> Part 1
>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k2fX74qqUs
>>>>>> Part 2
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> -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
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>>> truth."
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> 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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> a
>>>
>>> Andy Bach,
>>> afbach at gmail.com
>>> 608 658-1890 cell
>>> 608 261-5738 wk
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 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
>>
>
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org