[Ads-l] Subject: Green's _cop a tapper_ (v.) [SE tap one=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?=feet]

[Wilson Gray]

> Speaking of AAE meaning "to go on foot,"  have you heard of 'chevrolet':
'Shove one foot and lay the other' ?

No, I haven't, but it tickles my funnybone! In St. Louis, even though there
was a Chevrolet body-plant in town, "we" used the pronunciations,
"SHIV-uh-lay" and "Shivvih."

People did wear patent-leather shoes, though: "Got leather on top, but feet
pattin' the groun'."



On Sat, Apr 28, 2018 at 5:54 AM, Margaret Lee <
0000006730deb3bf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

>  Speaking of AAE meaning "to go on foot,"  have you heard of 'chevrolet':
> 'Shove one foot and lay the other' ?
>
> --Margaret Lee
>
> On ‎Saturday‎, ‎April‎ ‎28‎, ‎2018‎ ‎01‎:‎36‎:‎21‎ ‎AM‎ ‎EDT, Wilson Gray <
> hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>  (US black/Harlem) to take a walk.
>
>
> "to go on foot" is probably a better interpretation. As for the etymology,
> there is no connection with tapping one's feet. Rather, it has to do with
> the custom of immediately having the heels and toes of one's brand-new
> shoes shod with small steel plates usually called "taps," but sometimes
> called "heel-plates" and "toe-plates." The ostensible reason for doing this
> was to keep oneself well-shod, preventing one's _States_ - Stacy-Adams
> shoes - from devolving into _Dunlops_, i.e. shoes with "heels worn down and
> done lopped over."
>
> Naturally, the wearing of shoes with taps while walking, e.g. along the
> sidewalk or down a ceramic-tile-floored hall makes a fairly-loud, tapping
> or clicking sound. This is/was? considered to be *very* cool. So, there
> were random expressions like "cop a tap(per)" and "get one's heels to
> clicking" et sim. to describe the act of walking.
>
> These taps are far smaller than the huge steel plates used on the tap-shoes
> worn by tap-dancers.
>
> --
> -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
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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