[Ads-l] _to lose one's hair_ Beatles Don't Pass me by

[Andy Bach]

"My stock broker told me not to trade commodities, that I would lose
my shirt," he said. "So I kept buying the stocks he recommended, and,
instead, I lost my shirt with him."

Isn't that about losing money, as in, "losing everything including my
shirt"? Wonder if that's part of the Marx Brother's Coconuts opera parody
"Tale of the Shirt" (lyrics by Irving Berlin):
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090618172729AAXmQB3

I've seen "lose your shit" though it's that's more than just become
annoyed. The "keep your hair (and shirt) on" I knew, just never heard lose
your hair."

Thanks all. It's still a bit of a clunky line in the song, but it was
Ringo's first ever, so, not that surprising, I guess.

On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 1:18 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Jim Parish wrote:
> >
> > Ah. So the corresponding variant for the other phrase would
> > be "lost your shirt"?
>
> Yes.
>
> Year: 2004 Copyright
> Book: A Complete Guide to Technical Trading Tactics
> Author: John L. Person
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "My stock broker told me not to trade commodities, that I would lose
> my shirt," he said. "So I kept buying the stocks he recommended, and,
> instead, I lost my shirt with him." Not a happy story, but the amazing
> development is that the gentleman is ...
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> > On 10/24/2018 1:04 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> > > The phrase "keep your hair on" has a long history and seems to mean
> > > "keep your composure". Perhaps "you lost your hair" meant "you lost
> > > your composure" or "you lost your temper".
> > >
> > > Year: 1889
> > > Title: A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant
> > > Compiler and Editor: Albert Barrère and ?Charles G. Leland
> > > Publisher: Printed for Subscribers Only
> > > Quote Page 442
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > Hair (common) "keep your hair on," do not be excited, keep your
> > > temper; varied to "keep your shirt on."
> > >
> > > With the most perfect good temper the new-comer answered the
> > > expostulations of the fat woman with a "Keep yer hair on,
> > > Lizer."--Sporting Times.
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > > On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 11:24 AM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> I've always wondered about the line explaining her lateness: "you
> were in a
> > >> car crash and you lost your hair."  In the WikiP article, they have:
> > >>   However, the expression "to lose one's hair" was a fairly common
> English
> > >> idiom, and simply means "to become anxious or upset" (see, for
> > >> instance, Elizabeth
> > >> Bowen <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowen>'s novel *The
> Death of
> > >> the Heart <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Heart>*,
> 1938)
> > >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Pass_Me_By
> > >>
> > >> While it makes a little more sense that way for the song but a few
> googles
> > >> don't come up with any hair losing/become upset idioms, English
> (British?)
> > >> or otherwise.
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >> a
> > >>
> > >> Andy Bach,
> > >> afbach at gmail.com
> > >> 608 658-1890 cell
> > >> 608 261-5738 wk
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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