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

Sat Apr 27 02:52:26 UTC 2019

Ben just posted the GDOS information I was planning to post, but this
message still contains some interesting citations, I think.

The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (HDAS)
mentioned "dancing fool" in a 1953 citation.

[Begin excerpt]
fool n. a person who is excessively dedicated to a given
activity.—usu. constr. with prec. ppl.
[1875 in DAE: A Fool for Luck.] 1913-1915 Van Loan Taking the Count
176: He's the fightin'est little fool 'at ever pulled on a glove.
. . .
1953 I Love Lucy (CBS-TV): I'm a dancing fool!
[End excerpt]

Green’s Dictionary of Slang (GDOS) mentioned "dancing fool" in the
description of sense number 3 for "fool", but none of the citations
mentioned "dancing".

https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/hcio6by

[Begin excerpt]
fool n.
3. anyone excessively enthusiastic about a given activity or topic;
thus dancing fool, singing fool; often found as a fool for...
1887 [US]   in Overland Monthly (CA) July 66: That air that fiddlin’
fool, Pete Dobine.
[End excerpt]

GDOS sense 3 also mentioned the template "a fool for …", e.g., "a fool
for dancing". The first HDAS citation also followed this template: "A
Fool for Luck."

The 1877 citation I present further below  included the phrase "a fool
for dancing". Here is an 1854 citation presenting a pertinent Spanish
proverb that provides background information for the 1877 citation.

Year: 1854
Periodical: Bentley's Miscellany
Volume: 35
Article: Random Recollections of Campaigns Under the Duke of Wellington
Start Page 170, Quote Page 181
Publisher: Richard Bentley, London
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=5xdLAQAAMAAJ&q=tonto#v=snippet&q=tonto&f=false

[Begin excerpt]
In all characters that a Frenchman may be called upon to enact, he is
always proverbially insinuating, gay, and agreeable; and the Spanish
women, if there be truth in our experience, seemed well disposed to
act up to their national proverb, of--

"Todo el mundo es un bolero,
El que no baila es un tonto."*

. . .
* All the world is a ball, and he is a fool who does not dance.
[End excerpt]

Year: 1877
Periodical: Celebrities I Have Known
Author: Lord William Pitt Lennox
Volume: 1 of 2
Chapter 16: Warriors - Elley
Start Page 280, Quote Page 288 and 289
Publisher: Hurst and Blackett, London
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=CjsBAAAAQAAJ&q=tonto#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
No wonder then, when I applied for a night's leave to run up to London
for the play or a party, it was never granted without a grunt, or a
shrug of the shoulders. "What! going again?" he said one day; "more
balls?" I at that time was what was called "a dancing man," which my
captain could not understand. He reversed the Spanish proverb:--

"Todo el mundo es un bolero,
El que no bayla es un tonto,"

which literally translated, means "All the world is a ball, and he is
a fool who does not dance," and thought me a fool for dancing. "Yes,
sir," I responded; "I wish to attend Almack's."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 10:27 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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"?)
> > > > >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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