[Ads-l] antedating "sheela-na-gig"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I notice that George Thompson posted an amazing evident antedating to
1744 some years ago.

JL

On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 9:47 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It may well mean "A Shilling a Jig," {gig} being an old spelling.
>
> WikiP has a good article on "Sheela na gig," which cites a 16-gun British sloop-of-war "Shelanagig" from 1780. If that really is the word under discussion, it might be the weirdest warship name ever.
>
> The article also includes the word "anasyrma," which appears in neither MW nor OED. It gets its own WikiP article and is apparently well known to folklorists.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Oct 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> OED: 1844
>>
>> ca1805 John Buttrey "Fife Tune Ms." No. 22 [https://buttreymilitarysocialtunes1800.wordpress.com/melodies/]:
>> A Shiling a Gig  A Retreat.
>>
>> Buttrey was a fifer in the British army and a terrible speller. Conceivably this is "A Shilling a Gig," but it isn't clear to me what that would mean.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> --
>> "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."



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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