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

Thu Oct 25 02:39:14 UTC 2018

This thread is enough to make me lose my 'ligion!

On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 6:08 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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

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