[Ads-l] "dancing fool" 'a fool for dancing'

[Ben Zimmer]

Thanks for the tip, JL. Green's Dictionary of Slang also has this sense for
"fool": "anyone excessively enthusiastic about a given activity or topic;
thus _dancing fool_, _singing fool_; often found as _a fool for..._"
Earliest cite is from 1887 (Overland Monthly, "That air that fiddlin’ fool,
Pete Dobine").

https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/hcio6by

On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 9:11 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> And you could check HDAS under "fool."
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:05 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Zappa sang Dancin' Fool on SNL on 10/21/78
> > DanG
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 7:57 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > OED's no help, but here are some notable occurrences of
> "dancing/dancin'
> > > fool":
> > >
> > > "The Dancin' Fool" (1920 silent comedy film)
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancin%27_Fool
> > >
> > > "The Dancing Fool" (1932 animated cartoon with Betty Boop)
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancing_Fool
> > >
> > > "Dancin' Fool" (1974 song by The Guess Who)
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancin%27_Fool_(The_Guess_Who_song)
> > >
> > > "Dancin' Fool" (1979 song by Frank Zappa)
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancin%27_Fool
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 7:12 PM Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > i've stumbled on this formulaic expression in preparing a posting (it
> > > > comes up in a song from the Broadway show "Once Upon a Mattress", a
> > song
> > > > sung by the Jester -- i.e., a fool), and started to track it down,
> but
> > easy
> > > > places on the net provided nothing useful, and (in my latest computer
> > > > screwup) the OED is at least temporarily unavailable to me.  it isn't
> > > > crucial to my posting, but my curiosity has been piquied...
> > > >
> > > > is there literature about the the history of this expression?  is
> > there a
> > > > history of a larger usage "V-ing fool"?  (or are such occurrences
> > parasitic
> > > > on "dancing fool"?)
> > > >

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