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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Smack-dab #127882 04/28/2004 11:53 AM Joined: Apr 2004 Posts: 1 angelnanc8 stranger angelnanc8 stranger Joined: Apr 2004 Posts: 1 I am currently writing a local history book for our fourth graders and have employed the expression "smack-dab in the middle" in the text. I can find the definition...but not the origin of this phrase. Does anyone know the origin? My dictionary simply says "slang for directly or squarely". Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127883 04/28/2004 12:02 PM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 Welcome aBoard, angelnanc, especially with such an iteresting question. Over here in the UK, we say "slap-bang" in the middle - meaning precisely the same as the definition that you give. I have no idea of its derivation, but personally associate it with the air raids of the Second World War, when bombs were said to drop, "slap-bang" in the middle of a factory, or housing estate or whatever. If this is where it started, the derivation is fairly clear, I think. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127884 04/28/2004 1:24 PM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK Well Rhuby, I would have said the same as you, but looking at the Cambridge and the OED, *they say that the expression slap-bang is indicative of excessive and reckless speed rather than exact positioning whereas smack-dab is given in the Cambridge as ‘straight or directly’. No derivation is given for either term but the first usage of slap-bang recorded in the OED is given as 1833. There is also reference, dated as 1785, to a slap-bang shop. A squalid eating-place where you were required to put down your money on the counter at time of placing the order. I wonder if they sold the first Big-Macs . Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127885 04/29/2004 11:27 AM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok Capfka Pooh-Bah Capfka Pooh-Bah Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok I would have thought that a slap-bang shop was somewhere where you might find a Conservative cabinet minister after hours ... Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-bang shop #127886 04/29/2004 12:37 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York oh, my Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127887 04/29/2004 4:21 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,004 London, UK shanks old hand shanks old hand Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,004 London, UK I would have thought that a slap-bang shop was somewhere where you might find a Conservative cabinet minister after hours ... And I thought they called 'em Clubs. Or maybe that's only at St James'... Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127888 04/29/2004 4:38 PM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK You might get an Edwina Curry there perhaps? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Smack-dab #127889 04/30/2004 10:02 AM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 (It would be a major attraction, without a doubt) Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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