[Ads-l] Things That Go Bump in the Night

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Jul 17 14:14:50 UTC 2019


Scots is/was noted for its frequent use of diminutives like "ghoulies,"
"ghosties," and "beasties." "Lang" is also a Scots form.

JL

On Wed, Jul 17, 2019 at 10:07 AM Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:

> Thanks, Jon and Garson, those are both nice examples.  I don’t know why
> Jon’s didn’t come up in my own search.
>
> A question, if this is indeed of folk origin, is where it came from.
> Garson’s example describes it as an “old Scotch prayer,” but its inclusion
> in the Cornish and West Country Litany implies an origin at the most
> distant extreme of Great Britain.  I’ve also seen an Irish origin claimed.
> Scotland, Ireland, and Cornwall are all noted for their dialects.  I don’t
> know which, if any, of these dialects includes “ghoulies,” “ghosties,”
> “long-leggety,” and “beasties.”
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of ADSGarson O'Toole
> Sent: Wednesday 17 July 2019 1:00 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Things That Go Bump in the Night
>
> External Email - Think Before You Click
>
>
> Thanks John. Excellent citation, JL. Here are some links to the 1905 book:
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=DygSAAAAYAAJ&q=leggettie#v=snippet&<
> https://books.google.com/books?id=DygSAAAAYAAJ&q=leggettie#v=snippet&>
> https://archive.org/details/beggars00walkuoft/page/4<
> https://archive.org/details/beggars00walkuoft/page/4>
> https://archive.org/details/beggars00walkuoft/page/n201<
> https://archive.org/details/beggars00walkuoft/page/n201>
>
> The excerpt with "things that go bump in the night" appears as an
> epigraph of a tale titled "Some Strange Visitations" by Hugh Warrand.
>
> Here is citation from the next year that employs dialectical spelling,
> e.g., "lang-legged" for "long-legged", "nicht for "night", and "gude"
> for "good".
>
> Date: July 7, 1906
> Periodical: The Academy: The Weekly Review of Literature, Science & Art
> Article: Review of the book "The Undertaker's Field" by Herbert Compton
> Quote Page 16, Column 2
> Published at The Offices of Country Life and George Newnes, London
> (Google Books Full View)
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=5UY9AQAAMAAJ&q=%22gude+Lord%22#v=snippet&
> <
> https://books.google.com/books?id=5UY9AQAAMAAJ&q=%22gude+Lord%22#v=snippet&
> >
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> But "in romance all things are permissible," we are told. We lay down
> the book with the old Scotch prayer upon our lips: "From ghouls and
> ghosts and lang-legged beasties and things that go bump in the nicht,
> gude Lord deliver us."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson O'Toole
>
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 1905 Archibald Stodart Walker _A Beggar's Wallet : Containing
> > contributions in prose, verse and pictorial illustration, gathered from
> > certain workers in art and letters ... To be disposed of in aid of the
> > Royal Victoria Hospital for Consumpton, Edinburgh, at the Great
> > International Fair to be held in the Waverly Market, in the month of
> > November, 1905_ [Edinburgh: Dobson, Molle, 1905] 163:
> >
> > "Frae ghosties and ghoulies, long-leggettie beasties,
> >
> > And things that go bump in the night,
> >
> > Good Lord deliver us."
> >
> > — From a quaint old Litany.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 5:04 PM Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> >
> > > "Things that go bump in the night" refers to frightening unspecified
> but
> > > generally supernatural creatures. The phrase (and variants on it) has
> been
> > > used in a number of titles, some of which are listed on a
> disambiguation
> > > page on Wikipedia,
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_That_Go_Bump_in_the_Night<
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_That_Go_Bump_in_the_Night>.
> > > According to The Phrase Finder, the earliest known use of the phrase is
> > > from 1918, and it was incorporated in a prayer which was recorded in
> The
> > > Cornish and West Country Litany in 1926,
> > > https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/378900.html<
> https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/378900.html>. The OED also gives the
> > > 1918 date and suggests it probably has its origins in the 1926
> "rhyme." It
> > > does not appear to be in the Yale Book of Quotations.
> > >
> > > Here is an example of the prayer with the phrase from a review of the
> play
> > > Peter Pan in 1909. This is from the Los Angeles Herald (Mar. 1, 1909)
> > > (Newspapers.com):
> > >
> > > <<"From ghoulies and ghosties, long-leggety beasties and things that go
> > > bump in the night - good Lord deliver us!" runs a quaint old litany,
> > > echoing the beliefs of another day, when sprites and nymphs and elves
> were
> > > about us and
> > > Magic casements opened on the foam
> > > Of Perilous seas in faery lands forelorn.
> > > The "ghoulies and ghosties" have gone, God give them speed, but "Peter
> > > Pan" is back with Tinker Bell and the beasties, and yesterday Los
> Angeles
> > > slipped out through the casement with Peter to the "Never, Never, Never
> > > land," in Barrie's whimsical and delightful play.>>
> > >
> > > It seems likely that both the prayer and the phrase are older than this
> > > and do not come from Los Angeles originally.
> > >
> > >
> > > John Baker
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<
> http://www.americandialect.org>
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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