My father used this expression that I thought to be his alone. It meant "to sneak extra drinks" as in, "I don't know how he got that drunk, he must be 'Dick Smith-ing' in the kitchen...."
Recently, a friend, whose parents also grew up in San Francisco, used the same expression. Neither of us know the derivation. Can anyone help?
Welcome bevman. Can't help I'm afraid - it's new to me.
Greetings to you, bevman in Napa, from me in the Finger Lakes (well, not in them, but...)
I've never heard the expression either, but hang in there.
Dick Smithing it
Dick Smith is a band famous for "Swillbilly".
"Swillbilly" is what Dick Smith has dubbed the music poured across Smoke Damage, and it's hard to dispute the title.
You're proposing that bevman's father is into this?
http://www.rambles.net/dicksmith_smoke02.htmlTHE MGMT
Perhaps the band took its name from the term “Dick Smith-ing” (not that this gets us any closer to the solution).
Perhaps the band took its name from the term “Dick Smith-ing”The Dick Smith Band has been around since 1982, plenty of time for them to have established their "swillbilly" reputation, Dgeigh.
"Dick Smith and The Dole Q" started in August 1978 with a Open Air Gig at the Fort Perch Rock in New Brighton, and ended in the spring of 1982 as "The Dick Smith Band" , that was the end of Part1 .http://www.dicksmithband.co.uk
Yes, 22 years is plenty of time to establish a reputation. Nevertheless, that does not preclude the possibility of the band taking its name from a previously existing expression.
I'm thinking that there is a San Francisco connection to the term. My detective work would have taken me to Herb Caen, the famous SF columnist, but he's dead. There doesn't appear to be an heir to his doyen-of-local-history throne.
plutarch,
I am not suggesting that the expression “Dick Smith-ing” is not derived from the band’s name, I am only acknowledging the possibility that the band may have taken its name from a previously existing expression.
So far, I have not read anything in these posts that definitively establishes from where the expression “Dick Smith-ing” came. I’ve only seen your original statement: “Dick Smith is a band famous for ‘Swillbilly’” and your subsequent statements: “The Dick Smith Band has been around since 1982, plenty of time for them to have established their ‘swillbilly’ reputation” and, “Occam’s Razor.” No offense, but your posts are hardly definitive proof of your apparent (non-stated) assertion that the expression “Dick Smith-ing” is derived from the band’s name, nor is it logically a conclusion.
A band taking its name from a previously existing expression, or well known thing, is not uncommon. For a few examples, consider the names of the following bands: The Infamous They, Dead Kennedys, and to a lesser extent: The Police, and Crash Test Dummies.
Without definitive proof as to where the expression “Dick Smith-ing” came from, one could quite reasonably contend that there are various possibilities to explain the expression’s genesis. To ignore the existence of other possibilities, and to be so quick to wield Occam’s Razor in defense of your assertion, neither supports, nor furthers your apparent argument. Nor, once again, does it preclude the possibility of the band taking its name from a previously existing expression.
If you have definitive proof that the expression is derived from the band’s name, present it. Otherwise, I think the lexicographers would require the words, “probably” or “may” in the explanation of the word’s etymology. Certainly, they would not explain its etymology by writing: “Occam’s Razor tells us …”
bevman,
To pursue the possibility of plutarch’s suggestion: when did you first hear your father use the expression, i.e. what year?
Well, it could have been this Dick Smith, Dgeigh --- but it seems unlikely:
"Dick Smith--writer, artist, photographer--was deeply devoted to preservation of the wild and was called by some the "conscience of Santa Barbara." The Wilderness that bears his name is an area of extremely rugged terrain with elevations varying from 3,750 feet along the Cayuma Rim to 6,541 feet atop Madulce Peak to the west. Chaparral dominates the vegetation, but a splendid collection of mixed conifers grows around Madulce Peak."
http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Dick Smith Wildernessre
"I think the lexicographers would require the words, “probably” or “may” in the explanation of the word’s etymology."OK, "probably" the reference is to the Dick Smith band which adopted the name in 1982.
It isn't every mystery which warrants a "definitive" answer, Dgeigh -- which is why Occam's Razor comes in so handy, at least for me.
But for anyone looking for a "definitive" answer, I would agree that finding out how long the name was used by Bevman's father would be a good place to start.
