from anu's description of this week's theme, unusual words:

We've coaxed them out of the dictionary -- it's not often that one finds them in the open

tuesday's word was lollygag. is this such an unusual word? it's a word that i think of as quite commonplace. is it just a southern united states thing? are others familiar with this word as well, and if so, why was it chosen as an "unusual word"?

thanks

I think it's only unusual in that lallygag is the older, and more usual, spelling!

gaggin' in the wagon willy folly go through.

From the nth verse of Deck Us All with Boston Charlie.

gaggin' in the wagon willy folly go through.
swaller dollar cauliflower alliga-roo.

I believe (from reading Rumpole stories) that lolly is a Brit expression for fair amounts of money, swag, etc. Anyone have an idea whence comes this? Is there any possible connection to lollygag?

lollipop/lollygag

A variety of sources agree that “lollipop” seems to come from a dialectical term, “lolly,” meaning “tongue,” with varying degrees of certainty: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (from which I note a secondary meaning of lollygag as to indulge in kisses and caresses, to neck); Dictionary of Word Origins, Jordan Almond; Who Put the Butter in Butterfly?, David Feldman; and Horsefeathers & Other Curious Words, Charles Funk.


But Eric Partridge, in Origins -- A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, speculates:

lollipop, lolly. The former = lolly + pop (it into your mouth); and the ? orig dial lolly is prob short for loblolly, a thick broth or gruel, app a rhyming redup on LOB.

and

lob, pollack, lugworm, (now dial) a heavy (and dull) person, something short and thick and heavy, hence, ‘to lob’, to let fall heavily, throw lazily, whence, as in cricket or lawn tennis, a lobbed ball; hence app loblolly (cf LOLL) and looby, a (heavily) awkward, clumsy person, usu male, and lubber (cf LOOBY and the Sw dial lubber), a clumsy fellow, esp seaman, with adj lubberly and cpd landlubber.

A lob, ult echoic, is akin to and perh imm from MLG lobbe, a plump person or, usu, quadruped, cf Fris lob or lobbe, a short hanging lump, e.g. of fat, and Da lub or lubbe, a pollack.

His entry for loll references to lull, sense 2:

lull (v, hence Negligence), lullaby; loll (whence pa, vn lolling), Lollard.
1. ‘To lull’, ME lullen, to hum a tune to , to lull, MD lollen, to mumble or mutter, to doze, L lallare, to sing to sleep (perh for la-la, comforting sounds + -are) and Skt lolati, he moves to and fro, lulita, swinging. Lullaby perh = to lull a child to sleep + a + b’y for baby, but perh = lull + a comforting dissyllable.
2. ME lullen has var lollen, esp in sense ‘to hang loosely, to droop’, whence ‘to loll. MD lollen, to memble, has agent lollaerd, a mumbler, esp as pej Lollaerd, a mumbler of prayers and psalms.

A Dictionary of Slang and Euphemism, Richard Spears, informs that lallygag/lollygag has an older meaning of “to flirt, court, or make love” (mid-1800s), and a more current meaning of “to be idle” (1900s). The same source reveals the slang term, “ladies’ lollipop.” (British, jocular, 1800s).

[curtsey]

Nice to meet you, Wordwind.

[/curtsey]

I'm afraid I can't add a lot to what I've already posted, which pretty much exhausted my usual resources. A quick online search didn't disclose anything new, either.

See http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-lol1.htm

http://www.logophilia.com/WordSpy/lollygag.html

and

http://www.bartleby.com/61/50/L0235000.html

okay, I think the "lallygag" spelling has gotten the sticky end of the stick here, which only promotes some non-existant connection to "lollipop". so here is the history according to OED2:
lallygag - v. U.S. slang.

('læligæg) Also lollygag. [Origin unknown.]
intr. To fool around; to ‘neck’; to dawdle, to dally. Also as n., fooling around. Hence "lallygagging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1862 Harper's Mag. Aug. 324/1 Mr. Biggs paused and turned the flesh of the succulent lobster over with his finger. The gentleman inside addressed him: ‘+Try er lobstaw, bossy?’ ‘Ain't got no money,’ said Mr. Biggs, still fingering the morsels. ‘Oh, come now, none o' that ere lallygag,’ responded the gentleman. 1868 Northern Vindicator (Estherville, Iowa) 30 Dec., The lascivious lolly-gagging lumps of licentiousness who disgrace the common decencies of life by their love-sick fawnings at our public dances. 1869 Tidal Wave (Silver City, Idaho) 15 Jan. 3/2 They are too pious to encourage dicing, and the feature of their entertainments may be what the boys call ‘lally-gagging’. 1870 Northern Vindicator (Estherville, Iowa) 19 Feb., The weather once more is ‘salubrious’ and balmy, and indicates that winter will not lollygag in the lap of spring. 1880 E. L. Wheeler Boss Bob, King of Bootblacks vii. 9/1, I kin get lots o' jobs, if I'd take my pay in friendship an' all sech lollygag. 1910 Sat. Even. Post 30 July 19/1 Frank lally-gagged through his first term and came back for the second. 1927 D. Runyon Trials & Other Tribulations (1947) 112 When your correspondent was a ‘necker’ of no mean standing back in the dim and misty past, they called it ‘lally-gagging’. 1949 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore Jan.—Mar. 63 ‘Lally-gaggin’ was Grandmother's word for love-making. 1965 ‘E. Queen’ Fourth Side of Triangle i. 2 Lallygagging around under the awning away from the gassy streets. 1969 S. Greenlee Spook who sat by Door xi. 95 We lolly-gag, maybe turn on, or cook up some soul food. 1971 D. Bagley Freedom Trap iii. 20, I said there was to be no lally-gagging around with the staff, Rearden; you just stick to doing your job. 1973 Springfield (Mass.) Union 25 Sept. 14/1 The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which lollygagged most of the day, gained strongly in afternoon trading.


(citations don't lie)

winter will not lollygag in the lap of spring?!

I have seen women lallygagging while licking lollipops. Haven't you? Lascivious little trollops.

Lapdancing might contradict the old saying that modern dancing is a navel engagement without loss of semen.

dr. bill, being more nautical than niceical, favors a novel lass above a navel loss.
All hands on deck!

In an attempt to turn the conversation away from the licentious and toward the lovely, I offer this:
http://www.nauticom.net/www/chuckm/bark.htm