I'm an American singing in an all German acapella jazz group that sings in English. We are singing Java Jive and even I have trouble explaining the slang. what is "I'll cut a rug 'til I'm snug in a jug."? I think that cut a rug is to dance, but I thought snug in a jug referred to being tipsy. and also, what is, "A slice of onion on a raw one."? A raw what and what does it have to do with coffee??

"I'll cut a rug 'til I'm snug in a jug."?
Firstly, the best of luck and hope you enjoy the experience. Secondly, I googled and found that there is no agreement on the exact words. "a jug/the jug", "On a raw one/and a raw one" which could make a big difference in meaning. "Snug in the jug" could mean in prison but don't know how that relates to context. The song was (according to http://home.nc.rr.com/tuco/looney/lyrics.html sung in a 1941 Loony Tunes cartoon, "Robinson Crusoe Jr.". I don't know if that helps or hinders. "Snug in the Jug" was also a 1933 film which you can buy online.[/end ad]

Rod

i suspect to be in the jug -- is just an other euphemism for sex-- alot of jive songs had short lived expresssions for "scoring". As i child i knew and sang a jive song:
"Mama's little baby loves short'in, short'in,
Mama's little baby loves short'in bread"

I though the song was about shortnin bread (biscuts/scones) or better short cookies (scot's type butter cookies)
as an adult, i learned "short'in bread" was hot fast sex.

the idea of I am going to dance until i manage to convince some dance partner to have sex --makes perfect sense, and since some (most) of the slang was known only to the blacks -- it became a way to express what otherwise would have been censored lyrics.

Even some of the open lyrics where pretty far away from "main stream"-- i think of the 1930's blues song
"Coke's for horses, not for men,
they tell me it'll kill me, but don't say when
Cocaine, cocaine, run all around my brain..

Before there was so much talk of e-coli and mad cows disease people often ate raw hamburger meat as a hamburger. Mom called it a cannibal sandwich, but I am pretty sure there is another less revolting name for it, I just can't remember it right now. That is where your "a slice of onion on a raw one" originates.

raw hamburger meat

the upmarket version is known as steak tartare. I used to eat it, but suffered dreadfully one time after a meal of such in Brussels. Never again.

Rod

the upmarket version is known as steak tartare. I used to eat it, but suffered dreadfully one time after a meal of such in Brussels. Never again.

Anyone who eats raw animal flesh should suffer...Ahhh but that's another topic, for another board...
If I haven't offended you greatly, tell me how you insert those icons into your posts... couldn't find anything under "Helpful Hints" (oxymoron that it is) I click on them, but they never show in my posts..What's the secret cannibal man?

Anyone who eats raw animal flesh should suffer...

Dearest Gatsby, *please* tell me you wouldn't loosely include sushi in this group?? i think i'd perish without frequent sushi fixes.

i'm in the San Francisco area for a few days, and on my way to my hotel i noticed a sushi bar with the questionable name "Fuki Sushi"....i laughed so hard i almost rear-ended someone while reaching for my digital cam. i can't help but wonder if the founders had any command of english at all, not to mention the city planners who granted approval. the again, i suppose it *is* a college towm, and everyone knows sushi is a major aphrodisiac, so perhaps the name isn't as random as one would imagine.

oh, and Cannibal Sandwich sounds absolutely horrid. definitely an aptronym, though!

[/random babbling]

questionable name, Fuki Sushi

I don't know, bridget96, I think that when some folks move to an English speaking country for the first time they just never hook-in to the "nuances." I worked a telemarketing job for five years, and a casino marketing job for another five, dealing with hundreds of names on the computer each day...some of the things you encounter are mind-boggling!
For instance, at the telemarketing gig they automatically flash the call up on a computer screen pre-dialed for you, and you just say the name. So I found myself saying, "Hello, may I please speak to Phuc Q?" And I froze, thinking, "what did I just say, I can't say that, can I?" But that was their name, a new Thai-American citizen, I guess. Tough name to go through the military with! "What's your name soldier!?" Phuc Q, sir!
AND THEN...(I remember these 'cause I actually compiled a list the names were so strange) there was a woman whose first name was Sukhdeep! It was Indian I think, and the surname made it even more humurous.
And I was, like, "could somebody please clue this poor woman in that THAT name is NOT going to work over here!" 'Course it might work wonders at a job interview! ""So, what's you name?" 'Sukhdeep.' "Well, uh...sure. And, by the way, you're hired!" I hear the sirens of the Gutter Police wailing, but I've been dying to share some of these names for years!!! Maybe I'll dig out the list so I can post "Sukhdeep's" full name...and some of the others I've forgotten. I wish I was making this stuff up, folks...but, no, I am not!

Oh, and the all-time winner I found for the worse English-speaking name ever given has to be
"Lowman Bowman"! Yikes!!! Why would anybody do that to their child??????

What's the secret cannibal man?

Max has already clued you in on the emoticons, thanks Max. Without wishing to offend anyone's sensibilities, I have eaten various strange (to UK palates anyway) dishes over the years, and it is possible (I rate it at about 30%) I may have eaten human flesh. This was in the early days of the Nigerian/Biafran war (1967) - I was a bystander not a participant and was evacuated before the main conflict. Not happy memories I'm afraid.

From innocent enquiry (admittedly with a food slant) to full food thread in 3 posts. Is this a record?

Rod

may I please speak to Phuc Q

There is a set of audio files on the web ( I have a copy) of unsuspecting airport information desk attendants at Heathrow and Gatwick making some carefully prepared calls for passengers.
The names are below (I leave the translations to you) - the perpetrators were banned from the airport as there were lots of complaints.
Arheddis Varkenjaab and Aywellbe Fayed
Arjevbin Fayed and Bybeiev Rhibodie
Aynayda Pizaqvick and Malexa Krost
Awul Dasfilshabeda and Nowaynayda Zheet
Makollig Jezvahted and Levdaroum DeBahzted
Steelaygot Maowenbach and Tuka Piziniztee

Rod

everyone knows sushi is a major aphrodisiac…i think i'd perish without frequent sushi fixes

What are you trying to tell us, b69?

Where's the gutter police when you need 'em?

Where's the gutter police when you need 'em?
I sent private to tell him what a wicked boy he is.

Hi squid:

My sheet music copy of "Java jive" has the following note:

When Milton Drake was writing lyrics for a movie that starred Mae West and W C Fields [My little Chickadee, 1940], the latter would often offer the former a drink, which she'd decline with "I love coffee, I love tea". Later, at a party, Miss West asked Drake and composer Ben Oakland to write a song starting with her phrase. In an hour they completed "Java jive", then sent a copy to Fields, who immediately substituted his own lyrics, "I love whiskey, I love gin. I'm pretty healthy for the state I'm in." But it was the West-inspired version that became a hit in 1940 for The Ink Spots and almost four decades later for the singing group Manhattan Transfer.

… and just over six decades later for ???

what a wicked boy he is

Ooh - hit me again!

I'm sure Helen is smack on the nose with her remarks - most of these popular songs tended to draw on the values common to all uman beans through the ages. It's why so much language from the jazz age has retained its currency, like cool, and jazz itself.

a sushi bar with a questionable name

Here in Ithaca we once had a sushi bar named Yukki

an upper west side (Manhattan) had a new chinese place open a few year ago-- a typo had the restaurant name as "HUMAN (not HUNAN) TASTE".. It turn out to be a great success- it got a lot of free publicity from the interesting name.

Odd human name i know included one Judy Flynn, who made a mistake and married Bill Studey-- and she became Judy Studey.

Sushi devotees should take a look at health problems they facel

http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/Pubs/parasite.htm

Rod,
I've got that audio...seemed to be something that Homer Simpson would have loved....but admittedly, I play it every so often myself and laugh heartily....the infantanile funny bone never leaves some of us!

audio files

Funny stuff, Rod! Is there still a URL for it?

Re: Phuc Q and Sukhdeep.

Of course this does work both ways. A friend of mine named Margaret used to go by a common abbreviation thereof until she moved to a Javanese-speaking area, where she eventually found out this was the Javanese for smegma.

Bingley

wow! Thanks for the interesting historical background paulb! it's a shame that the alcoholic lyrics didn't become popular as well. They sound pretty funny. Do you know where I could get ahold of them?? By the way, our group is called Jazz Happens!

One more question: Who is Mr. Moto?? "Oops, Mr. Moto I'm a coffeepot."?

url for audio files?

Sorry, can't find one. But I have the files so I will see if I can put them on the drive, if that is allowed.

Rod

Quick Google search yielded this :

"Mr. Moto was a mild-mannered, Japanese detective that was the basis for a series of eight films (1937-39) by Twentieth Century-Fox from the stories of novelist John P. Marquand. Peter Lorre portrays Kentaro Moto (I.A. Moto in Marquand's novels), who was very much unlike Charlie Chan in that he was the master of disguises and physically more active, often using ju-jistsu."

I remember those films and I loved them ... but remember I was only 10-years-old!!