[Ads-l] Green's: _rule_ v., possible antedating*

[Jonathan Lighter]

The Abrahams ex. was recorded in South Philadelphia in 1958-59 and would
have appeared in HDAS in brackets.

The earliest unquestionable ex. HDAS found was Gary Larson's "Dinosaurs
rule!" scrawled on a boulder in the Jurassic Age.

That was in Larson's _Far Side_  collection in 1982, though the panel might
have appeared as early as 1980.

The usage became generally popular during the '80s.

However, Wilson probably ruled much before then.

JL

On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 1:17 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> *IMO, the antedating is definite. However, the slang meaning of _rule_ is
> sufficiently vague that it can be argued that the antedating is of a third
> meaning. Either way, I rule!🤡
>
> 2. (_US black_) to be in control
> 1992 D. Burke Street Talk 2 50: Why do you always argue with your boss?
> He’s rulin’, not you!
> 2005 Mad mag. Oct. 24: They suck. We rule and we’re gonna kick their asses.
>
>
> You _ruled_ me, once. I was a fool for you
> You _ruled_ me, once. I was a fool for you
> Well, I ain't gonna stand your foolin' aroun'
> If I do, If I do, well, I'll be John Brown
> Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns: "Well, I'll Be John Brown"
> Ace Records 553 (written by Huey Smith) - November, 1958
>
>
> Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of
> Philadelphia
> Roger D. Abrahams - Preview - Page 72
> Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago: 1964
>  [The signifying monkey] said, "Damn, Mr. Lion, you went through here
> yesterday, the jungle rung.
> Now, you come back today, damn near hung."
> He said, "Now you come by here [cf. "kumbaya"] when me and my wife trying
> to get a little bit,
> Tell me that 'I _rule_' shit. I just tried it out. You ain't shit.
>
> ... [W]hen the lovin'starts and the lights go down
> And there's not another livin'soul around
> You _rule**_ me until the sun comes up
> And you say that you love me
> Fleetwood Mac: "Say You Love Me"
> Reprise album "Fleetwood Mac": 1975
>
> **Some transcribers hear _rule_, others hear  _woo_. Absent access to a
> copy of the words as Christine McVie herself wrote them, I don't think that
> there's any way to resolve this conundrum. Transcribing intercepted Russian
> commo was my job in the Army Security Agency and I've _always_ heard the
> word as "rule" and _rule_ makes more sense. After all, it is, to quote the
> late Eddie Kendricks, "a song about fucking," which is well past the wooing
> stage. But there's nothing _necessarily_ precluding "woo." Not even
> watching videos of Ms. McVie's mouth-movements*** helps. "Ya pays ya money
> an' ya takes ya cherce."
>
> ***There was a similar controversy regarding a line of the song, I Can't
> Get It Out of My Head: "I saw the ocean's daughter."
>
> a) "Walking on a wave _she came_"
>
> or
>
> b) "Walking on a wave _chicane_"?
>
> Clearly, in context, (a) is the obvious choice. But, when you watch singer
> Jeff Lynne's mouth-movements, you see that he can't possibly be saying "she
> came." But he could be saying "chicane" and, once that you find out that a
> _chicane_ is a kind of "serpentine curve," (b) begins to make sense: a wave
> in the shape of a chicane/a chicane composed of a wave.
>
>
>
> --
> -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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