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#52207 01/08/02 07:15 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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I never danced, but I remember "dipsy doodle" being a version of jitterbug or at least similar short-lived dance style.
(Bill Haley's ‘Dipsy Doodle’, for instance, was a cover of a Tommy
Dorsey track from 1937).


#52208 01/08/02 07:42 PM
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Yeah, that's similar to a post down in Weekly Themes. Is it possible the Great Anu made a mistake??


#52209 01/08/02 08:18 PM
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bartleby claims the source to be alteration of dipsy-do, baseball term to describe motion of a screwball, from dip.

I doubt it. My SWAG (= Stupid Wild Ass Guess) is that the baseball term sounds exactly like the sort of thing that would have been coined by Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, who pitched in the 1930's. Dizzy was one of the all time greats and was also sensational in his quotability (e.g., "It ain't braggin' if you go out and do it.")

Of course, the next question would be whether the pitch was named for the dance, or vice versa.



#52210 01/08/02 08:21 PM
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Wordsmith or his helper saw it used as the sportswriters appropriated it, to describe erratic bounce of a football fumble. I took it for granted everyone would know I was commenting on TW.


#52211 01/08/02 09:51 PM
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"TW", bill? sorry, non comprende.
But it would seem that the sport referenced (whether or not it precedes the dance reference) is baseball, not (US) football.


#52212 01/08/02 09:57 PM
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TW = today's word? this from an avowed opponent of the undefined initialism; thereby proving his point, I suppose.


#52213 01/08/02 11:01 PM
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I never danced, but I remember "dipsy doodle" being a version of jitterbug or at least similar short-lived dance style. wwh

The song preceded the dance (such as it was) The dance preceded the sports allusion. Ask my Mom. Milum.



#52214 01/09/02 03:35 AM
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The same is being dicussed under weekly themes, which would seem a more apt location.
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?
Cat=&Board=weeklythemes&Number=51295&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5




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