What are the powerful words that speak to movement?

Strutting instantly comes to mind...

And wiggling and jiggling...gelatinous movement

Strut, wiggle, jiggle, shimmy (!), prance, sashay...

What are some others? (I know this is similar to the foot thread, but, really, there is a difference--and this may be good for getting those winter bones up and moving...)

Gliding back to Star Land,
OrB~

shimmey
Old song:
Wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate,
Shake it like jelly on a plate.
Mama asked just the other night,
"How come all the boys treat Kate so nice?"
Mama, mama, it's understood:
Kate's the best shaker in the neighborhood!
I may be late, but I'd be up to date
If I could shimmy like my sister Kate,
I mean...
Shake it like my sister Kate.

Ooooo, I love the word sashay. It sounds like silk moving on silk.

Sneak & tiptoe, while both conveying movement also let the reader know that something else, not always above board, is going on.

Though, on second thought, I'd attribute sneak to a bad guy and tiptoe to a good guy or a kiddy.

I love sashay too, but stroll. Now there's a good one. It just rolls off the tongue.

Dear belMarduk: Do you square dance? or just like "sashay" because it is a corruption of a French word?

sashay


SYLLABICATION:
sa·shay
PRONUNCIATION:
s-sh
INTRANSITIVE
VERB:
Inflected forms: sa·shayed, sa·shay·ing, sa·shays
1a. Informal To walk or proceed, especially in an easy or casual manner. b. To
strut or flounce in a showy manner: sashaying around the dinner party in his
fancy new clothes. 2. To perform the chassé in dancing. 3. To move in a
sideways manner.
NOUN:
1. A chassé. 2. An excursion; an outing. 3. A figure in square dancing in which
partners circle each other by taking sideways steps.
ETYMOLOGY:
Alteration of chassé.

glide (walking elegantly while wearing a very long dress)
yomp (doing like the paras do)
mince (effeminate or tentative steps)
stride (positive, confident steps)

I always thought that mince were those scissory steps you took when you had to go pee really badly and you didn't want to leave a little trail along the floor.

Dear rkay,

Yomp like the paras do? Doesn't compute! Hellllpppppp!

Other movements:

Waltz
Sidle
Dance
Tread
Trudge
Stomp
Stamp
Run
Skip
Hop
Jump
Shift
Gallop
Jig
Lunge
Loiter (?)
Meander
Polka
Cha-Cha
Shuffle
Tap
Circle
Box-step
Heel-toe
Do-See-Do (spelling?)
Relevée (spelling?)
Cartwheel
Roundabout
Flip
Backflip
Flouce
Trounce
Highstep
Halt
Cross
Grapevine step
Dodge
Dart
Boureé
Turn
Twist
Boogaloo
Bop
Hula
Bellydance

Beat regards,
WordWiggle

yomping - walking at high speed, over whatever terrain you come across - and if you're a para then usually carrying a heavy pack.

Para - member of the Parachute Regiment

I have the feeling that "yomping" is a very Brit sort of word - a portmanteau signifying youth and stomping (?) The action, though, I'm sure is fairly universal - it's what fit people do when they are in a hurry - like when you are twenty miles away from your destination 2½ hours before supper is about to be served, when you know they'll neither wait for you nor keep anything!

The other reason for yomping is to show off - to prove that you are fitter than the others, or whatever. You sure as [whistle] don't get to see to enjoy the countryside that way, but you can boast about your prowess!

What names (other than approbrious ones!) do you-all have for this sort of activity?

What about:-

Samba
Mambo
salsa
tango
quickstep
funk
jive
spin
reel
prance
pirouette
tip-toe
goose step
march
pound
jog
flick-flack
jeter (that's zhet-ay not jeet-er!)
boogie
disco
hike
amble
trek
stroll
limp
gimp

?

Gimp????

gimp (gimp) Slang.
n.
A limp or a limping gait.
A person who limps.
intr.v., gimped, gimp·ing, gimps.
To walk with a limp.

[Origin unknown.]

????Gimp????

Gallopin' with a limp ??

and Surry--a made up word i think,
Surry down to stoned soul picnic-

or is that a mondegreen?
ever since the song, surry is languid, easy walk, of a summers day, with a nice buzz on..

Hop, skip and a jump -- where does this come from?

I understood that it referred to the triple jump, a fancy distance jump event in track and field. I saw a similar term used in a book that I think predates the triple jump, though, so now I'm not sure of the origin. The book was probably one of Jane Austen's. When did the triple jump start? The modern Olympics didn't start until 1896. It could have been done in the original Greek Olympics, but I doubt the term would have been familiar when the book was written.

When did the triple jump start?

The triple jump has been part of the (modern) men's olympics since their origin in 1896; it was added to the women's olympics in 1996.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0115039.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0146987.html

So far as I know, Jazzo, a Hop Skip and a Jump is a reference to the supposed way in which children, when they are happy, blithely progress along the road and oe'r the fields. 'Tis the stuff of children's story-books, I think, rather than an acute observation of young persons; nevertheless, children often do use a gait of that general type, if my own experience of my own progeny (a few years ago, now ) is anything to go by.

Probably confused here, but don't people say use the hop, skip, and a jump in situations like this:

Lost Person: "How far from here is the Famous Crooked Spire?"

Person in the Know: "Why it's only a hop, skip, and a jump from here moving east!"

Lost Person: "Which was is east? Is that the direction where the sun goes down? I never can remember...."

And so on.

Best regards,
WordsWest

Capitol Hill in Seattle has brass dance steps embedded in the sidewalk - I didn't find a comprehensive collection of the pictures (and I don't have mine scanned in), but there's a taste of it near the bottom of this page: http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/tour/capitol.htm
I don't really have much to add to the conversation at hand, but it reminded me so strongly of this, I just wanted to share.

Later, after a narcissistic look at her post... Well, glory be! I'm an addict! [Double ]

Does anybody else use scoot, meaning to go really quickly to get somewhere.

Hop, skip & jump...don't they all have to do with hopscotch?

I have heard the "oh, it's only a hop, skip & jump away" expression to mean it is not very far.

Congrats on the Addiction Fiberbabe. Long may it last.

stales

Yes, i use scoot, the way you suggested, and to ask someone to move a little -- say on bleachers... i might ask someone to scoot over, so i can fit my oversized behind on the bench too.

or if there was someone telling a funny story, i might ask them to scoot over, and sit by me and continue..

scoot, meaning to go really quickly to get somewhere.

In my usage, the distance in question is usually short. (Like helen said.) e. g.: "Scoot over so I can have a piece of the couch!"

say on bleachers... i might ask someone to scoot over, so i can fit my oversized behind on the bench too.

You too Helen? I've always heard it said scootch over a bit. But then, for my rump, it's usually...scootch over...a lot!

I often ask patients to "squiggle over a little bit on the stretcher," so that their arm will be resting comfortably permitting a relaxed blood pressure measurement, rather than having to hold it up tensely in the air. It has the advantage of being understandable but a little bit silly, usually elicits a smile and eases tension...

granted it's not [I must acknowledge, upon re-reading the original post of this thread] a particularly powerful word

frolic and gambol? for me, they've always conjured up images of happy English children playing in a meadow

I often ask patients to "squiggle over a little bit on the stretcher,"...

Oh! Doc! You could ask me to squiggle for you anytime! But this is where I would use scootch again. Meaning, to move over a bit. It is a well understood word here. I took an ambulance ride last week and when I got to the hospital, they asked me to scootch over from the stretcher to the gurney in the hallway.

Hmmm, I've always heard scootch also for moving over a teeny bit.

Squiggling is only done when you are oiled up from head to toe and playing......never mind.

Me too (as to bel's post re "scoot", and Angel's re "scooch"). Has anyone heard "scoatch" (long-o sound) used as a noun to mean that small bit of space you move, as in, "Scoot over. Move over a scoatch?"

Ok, "Boot-Scootin' Boogie" aside,,,,,

That makes me think of ponies--pony trot--and then the way they say that some ponies, "clip the daisies" when they trot. I always like that expression!

Clippin' the comets,
OrB~

For your scootches and squiggles I would use budge up. Budge up a bit -- make some room to fit me in as well.

Bingley

Slouches. A powerful word in this poem...

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Second Coming - W.B. Yeats

frolic

My friends and I have adapted frolic to mean something much less innocent... Tee hee hee

much less innocent

The Second Coming? [/frolic]

frolic
much less innocent
The Second Coming?

nah ... won't say; not even in white

[giggle]

RE: The Second Coming?

Aren't we entering the realm of myths now?

the realm of myths

who would know better, Myth Twoy?

much less innocent

The Second Coming?

You guys! It actually just refers to the first approach!

Oh-- getting back to Dance step.. and moving away from horizontal Tango movements...

Crossing thread again.. scoot, scootch, squiggle, sashay, surrey.. so many Swith soft, small, sensuous movements.. or are they rhythmic, sea like movements?

(dance theory says dance movements echo the dancers environments.. and people who live on flat plains have flat dances, with subtle movements.. and mountain dwellers have sharp angluar movements, with leaps and jumps.. and sea coast dwellers have rhtymic, pulsing movements, like the tides.. with occational, startling elements.. (rogue wave)..any thoughts on how words and language do the same?)

"Just a scosh.." long O ... is a New Englandism meaning a teeny weeny bit. At least so I thought.
Then I went to Hawaii and heard it there but thought to self "Well New England Missionaries did come here."
Then - lo and behold!
My Japanese neighbor used the word and I learned it is Japanese meaning a little bit!
Then I remembered that New England sailing ships visited Japan and stopped in Hawaii for water and fresh fruits/veggies.And there was an influx of Japanese into Hawaii in the 1800s. Then of course King Kalakaua, on a visit to Japan, suggested his daughter marry the Emporer's son but the idea came to nothing.

But that nothing to do with motion, unless you count the movement of time and the spheres and ... oh! Dear me! I am wandering too far afield ... again. Sorry!

Song playing softly in background : "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...."

>And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Geez, when you say slouches like that is sounds really threatening, like something evil is slithering on its way.

Slouches here, is usually done by teenages just hanging loose, not sitting upright, but with their backs curved a little.

Somehow though, your use seems very apt and conveys the "dark brooding shape coming this way" well.

For your scootches and squiggles I would use budge up. Budge up a bit -- make some room to fit me in as well.


Oh, Bing! You gonna squeeze and squiggle and scootch and budge up with Helen and me? Slide on down Helen, we need some room for Bing!

i always find room for My dear Mr. Bingley!

Do be carefull, if jackie find any one cosying up with out including her, well, Lets not have that happen!

My Dear Mr. Bingley, surely you won't mind budging up with us, three? I'll sit at your right, and angel your left, and Jackie will have to fend for her self!