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

Wed Oct 24 22:07:46 UTC 2018

Here is an instance within a footnote. The phrase uses negation, and
removing the negation from a colloquialism can be tricky as Jim Parish
has suggested. Nevertheless, I think this example is useful.

Date: 1964
Book: Escape: An Episodic Play
Author: John Galsworthy
Quote Page 14
Database: Google Books Snippet; must be verified with hardcopy or scans

[Begin footnote 1]
Don't lose your hair (slang), don't lose your temper.
[End footnote 1]

"Escape: An Episodic Play" by John Galsworthy was first published in
1926, and there is a copy at archive.org. Here is the pertinent
excerpt that was footnoted years later in 1964, I think.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.235472/page/n17

[Begin excerpt]
Matt. Don’t lose your hair — I tell you, on my honour, this lady did
not annoy me in the least. On the contrary----
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 5:31 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for your responses. I misunderstood the playfulness of Jim
> Parish's contrasting remark.
>
> The following excerpt circa 1954 seems to contain a direct claim that
> "to lose your hair" means "to be angry" in colloquial speech.
>
> Year: 1954 (Snippet shows volume does contain a 1954 issue)
> Periodical: Linguists' Club
> Periodical: Linguist
> Volume 16
> Page 147
> Database: Google Books Snippet View; must be verified with hardcopy or scans
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> . . . also has various uses — all connected with the idea of loss,
> deprivation or defeat, e.g. "to lose your temper," "to lose your
> place," "to lose your hair " (coll., "to be angry"), "to lose your
> way," "to lose the game.'" etc.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
> On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 2:34 PM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > "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

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