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

Thu Jul 18 16:10:51 UTC 2019

That’s certainly Scots. I can’t say anything about it’s status as an old prayer. Note that “beastie” means ‘insect’. 

Michael Everson
http://evertype.com

> On 18 Jul 2019, at 16:57, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> "Frae" is also Scots.
> 
> If "ghosties" was originally "ghaisties," the rhythmic lines could include
> a rhyme :
> 
> "Frae ghoulies and ghaisties,
> Lang-leggity beasties,
> An' things that gae bump in the nicht,
> Guid Lord deliver us."
> 
> However, the Dictionary of the Scots Language has no entry for "ghoulie" or
> "long/lang -leggity," and no exx. of "ghaistie" till 1979 !
> 
> JL
> 
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2019 at 10:14 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> 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
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>> 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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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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