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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
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think it's only unusual in that lallygag is the older, and more usual, spelling!
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Carpal Tunnel
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gaggin' in the wagon willy folly go through.
From the nth verse of Deck Us All with Boston Charlie.
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Carpal Tunnel
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gaggin' in the wagon willy folly go through.
swaller dollar cauliflower alliga-roo.
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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?
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Pooh-Bah
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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). 
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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.
('l�lig�g) 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?!
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have seen women lallygagging while licking lollipops. Haven't you? Lascivious little trollops  .
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