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#145242 07/20/05 06:22 AM
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"Geehaw" has a common meaning of agreement or getting along together. What dictionary or printed source carries this meaning? "Gee" by itself is cited in the OED, Eric Partridge's book on slang and unconventional words. No Internet dictionary seems to carry "geehaw," but the word is listed in various Internet postings to refer to such things as "not geehawing with a new digital camera," "one's Ipod not geehawing with his Dell," etc. Help for definition will be much appreciated. Thanks.--Johnnie Godwin

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#145243 07/20/05 10:59 AM
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Doesn't seem to be in common use. Google claims 28 hits but only shows nine, six of which are a repeat of a single citation in which it seems to mean "to laugh." The other three look to be your "common" (if three out of 8 billion can be considered common) definition. As to an etymology, I'd WAG that it's from gee and haw, commands to a draft animal to turn right or left, respectively. But WAGs don't carry much weight in the field of etymology. Ask at wordorigins:

http://p098.ezboard.com/bwordoriginsorg

They have a much better handle on this sort of question .


#145244 07/20/05 11:58 AM
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Faldage, I'd bet money that you're right. My uncle--in Tennessee! (welcome aBoard, Johnnie)--used to call "gee" and "haw" to his pair of plowing mules (George and Henry) to get them to turn right or left. And any time there is more than one animal, they need to turn (work) together.
Hmm--it just occurred to me that this is yet another ex. of the anti-sinister world: I have only heard the words as gee and haw; never haw and gee.


#145245 07/20/05 12:35 PM
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> another ex. of the anti-sinister world:

umm, maybe they're just alphabetical?

welcome Johnnie. I don't think I've ever hear the phrase geehawing.



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#145246 07/20/05 12:58 PM
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Welcome, Johnny. No, I've never heard it either. My initial response was that it sounded like an expression for slewing around and not making up one's mind which way to go - either haw or gee - no, wait, haw - umm, maybe gee......


#145247 07/20/05 02:12 PM
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I don't know the usage described, but makes sense in the context of the horse commands to me, in that, in computing for example one device usually acts as the 'master' and the other follows as the 'slave'.

> Google claims 28 hits but only shows nine, six of which are a repeat of a single citation in which it seems to mean "to laugh."

"gee haw" gets a few more (869), mainly to do with horses as far as I can tell. There was a 1928 cartoon book called: The Gee-Haw of the Modern Jehu!

And there's the Gee-Haw-Whammy-Diddle toy:-)
http://www.mugwumps.com/whammy.htm
Maybe that was once used to control horses?


#145248 07/20/05 08:31 PM
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Johnnie Godwin here with thanks for the welcomes various ones of you gave me. Also, thanks for voting for "gee" and "haw." If you study longer and stronger on just "gee," you probably will find the idea of getting along together in the dictionaries: i.e. "geeing" together. It is never "hawing" together. As someone pointeds out, they never heard "haw and gee." I still tend to think the "geehaw" may have evolved much as zigzag or something of that sort. One of the interesting things to me is that I checked out umpteen references to the 10th power deep on research; and folks from old-timers to the youngest references mentions "geehaw" as in (1) "My digital camera doesn't geehaw with my Dell." (2) "Federal computers don't geehaw with [others?]. (3) Other references that showed by context they were using "geehaw" to refer to getting along with each other. So I'm not contesting the WAG of "gee" and "haw," but I do have solid OED and other references for "gee" as agreement or getting along together. Though the word "geehaw" obviously isn't common in print, I would encourage posters here to check it out with friends in the context I'm talking about. And when I revise my new book (SYZYGY~LIVING A POWERFULLY ALIGNED LIFE--out last week, Chalice Press--no press here:), I'll probably use "geehaw" and "jibe" too as examples of being in SYZYGY with folks.
A serious but lighthearted thanks to all of you who have posted so far. Appreciatively, Johnnie G in TN

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#145249 07/20/05 09:55 PM
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Hey, Johnnie G. Stick around. We could use someone of your credentials and level of interest. But, seriously, check out the folks at wordorigins. They are serious etymology folks and have usage resources far beyond anything we have here.

The whole "gee and haw" vs. "haw and gee" question is a whole nother subject that some have addressed. One that I can think of involves reduplications like "click and clack" and they seem to tend to be in ablaut series order. Others, like "black and white" and "stop and go" seem to fit some other set of rules, but I don't really remember what they were. You'll get some that are, or seem to be in the wrong order. The baseball expression "hit and run" is definitely in the wrong order; the base runner runs before the batter hits. "Lock and load" sounds wrong, but I've heard arguments from people who should know that the order is just fine as stated. It all hinges on what is meant by "lock."

But, as I said, that's a whole nother subject.


#145250 07/20/05 09:56 PM
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See Theodore Sturgeon on syzygy.


#145251 07/20/05 10:25 PM
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While geehaw does sound horse (or mule, not to be specie-ist) related, there seems to be no reference that dates pre-computer let alone from the horse age. Odd.


#145252 07/20/05 10:26 PM
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this one bothers me..

I distinctly remember, as a lad (lo these many), listening to radio broadcasts (and maybe Dizzy Dean on the tv?) wherein pains were taken to differentiate between "hit & run" and "run & hit", akin to the difference to a "squeeze play" and a "suicide squeeze". that is, in each of the former instances the runner waits to see if the hit/bunt is successful; in the latter events, the runner leaves with the pitch.

I don't know when run & hit was dropped from the lexicon; perhaps there was a hit-and-run incident.


#145253 07/20/05 10:30 PM
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when run & hit was dropped from the lexicon

Maybe it just didn't fit the rule for forming these sorts of phrases.


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Zed, your last word said, "Odd." Agreed. I suppose "oral-speak" gets around for a long time before some word appears in print. But I was born in 1937, and my family seemed to be familiar with "geehaw" as long as I can remember. Could have been family or colloquialism, but seems broader than that. Odd. Thanks.--Johnnie G

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#145255 07/21/05 01:24 AM
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"run & hit" gets hundreds of GHs and is defined in several. I'm thinking it has succumbed to Baseball Announcer Dumbing Down [BADD]; e.g., calling the inside/outside edges of the strike zone "corners."


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I wonder if it is a regionality which would explain the time lag before hitting the page. I use regional words like chuck (for ocean) in speech that I wouldn't use in published writing whereas more commmon slang I might.


#145257 07/22/05 12:14 AM
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The use of "chuck" to refer to a body of water, especially to an ocean, is a derivation from the Chinook Jargon -- a trading language which enabled trade between Europeans and Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.


#145258 07/22/05 11:57 AM
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At the latest AWAD chat we asked Erin McKean, who edits the Oxford American Dictionary, if she had heard "geehaw." She hadn't. Here's the transcript:

http://wordsmith.org/chat/mckean.html


#145259 07/23/05 04:23 PM
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Thanks so much for the time you and Faldage gave "geehaw" with Erin. I was delighted with her enthusiasm for the word both times you mentioned it to her. I bought the OAD update as soon as it came out (providing grandkids with my older one). I'm sorry I wasn't around to interact with Erin. One of the things that occurred to me is that there's enough difference in the much larger OED and the OAD that I wonder if Erin/staff of the OAD crosscheck their words with the OED. For example, the concept of "gee" by itself as agreement isn't even in the OAD. No problem. However, the OAD doesn't even list the gee and haw, right and left that surely has been common ever since "horsedom" or "muldedom" or whatever. Further, the close relationship of "geehaw" to Alaskan huskies and other canines doesn't seem to show up in all these discussions; and as I traced "geehaw" all over the cyberspace universe with search engines to the nth degree, I found quite a bit on canine usage of "geehaw."
TMI (Or as my college granddaughter explained to me, "Too much information!" Sorry about that. I do have another life besides the enjoyment I've been getting of geehawing here with you fine folks:). I've been going back and forth one of our fine bb guys on "nidifguous" and "nidiculous," which is one of my favorite contrasts in the bird kingdom. Just a thought for those no in the know on those words but are interested.
Again, thanks so much for the interview time you/Faldage and Erin devoted to "geehaw."--Genuinely/Appreciatively, Johnnie G

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#145260 07/23/05 06:58 PM
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back in the brick & mortar world, the next time someone is at her (large?) library he might check the DARE for gee/haw/geehaw.


#145261 07/23/05 09:04 PM
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Thanks for the checking of DARE. From what Erin said, it sounded like a body needs a special ribbon or ID to get into those files--or maybe a special donation:). Thanks for the suggestion. Maybe someone with access will follow up.

Johnnie Godwin


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I was born in 1937, and my family seemed to be familiar with "geehaw" as long as I can remember. Could have been family or colloquialism, but seems broader than that. Odd. Thanks.--Johnnie G

You are correct, Johnnie G.

Teaching The Commands "Gee!" And "Haw!"

Haw!" - Come Here, to the Left
First I teach "Haw!" because it is easier to teach than "Gee!" "Haw" means turn to the left. You are working the ox from the left side with a halter and lead-rope on him. Walk counterclockwise around the edge of the ring so that you are on his left side. The fence is on his right side. Command him to "Get-up!"

When he is walking along nicely, then you tap him with the lash on his right side somewhere between his ears and his mid-back and tug on the halter rope and say "Haw!" When you do this your ox should turn towards you.
---------
We want to reserve his rear end for propelling him forward with the command "Get-up!" and his front part up to his ears is reserved for "Gee!" and "Haw!" left and right.


http://snipurl.com/ggza

re his front part up to his ears is reserved for "Gee!" and "Haw!" left and right

Did the instructor mean "Gee!" and "Haw!" right and left"? [i.e. "right and left" respectively]

Perhaps, not.

To get the ox to move to the left with the command "Haw!", you tap the animal of the right side.

To get the ox to move to the right with the command "Gee!", you tap the animal on the left side.




#145263 07/24/05 07:18 PM
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I happened to run across an interesting book whilst rummaging through our local library, a Historical Dictionary of American Slang. What it's doing here in Devon is another story, apparently.

The definition of gee, a verb, from gee! a command to make a horse turn right or go faster} to suit, go, work, etc.; hence to behave as desired; get along well.

The first citation is 1698-1699, Dict. Canting Crew: It won't Gee, it won't hit or go.

My guess is that geehaw as a verb is a parallel to the verb in this dictionary, particularly when viewed in light of what the inquirer said about two electronic instruments not geehawing, or getting along.

Many years ago we had an American Naval officer attached to my husband's unit, and he often said that things either were or were not in gee. The context led us to conclude he meant agreement; I'd not thought about that odd expression for 30 or more years.

Curly




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Plutarch's explanations were interesting and humorous about Haw, get-up, and gee. Interestingly, the AOD gives only the meaning of saying "gee" to command a horse to go faster. So their gee and your get-up [or giddyup] are the same. The AOD would have gotten more at the meaning of agreement or meshing or getting along together from the OED's citations of "gee"--even though we're talking UK/US.
Of course, in context, we're not talking about "Gee" or "Gee whiz" here but agreement, which seems to have brought about quite a bit of etymological hem-hawing and not a few wags:).--Johnnie G

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#145265 07/25/05 03:48 AM
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What it's doing here in Devon is another story

I can hardly wait. :)




#145266 07/25/05 12:52 PM
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re: we had an American Naval officer .... [who] often said that things either were or were not in gee. The context led us to conclude he meant agreement

I suspect your conclusion was correct, Churl Pat, but my guess is that the Naval Officer had a musical background and he was using the expression "in G", not "in gee".

The most common of all chord progressions is three chords - often called a "three chord progression". ... The chord for that shown first in major chords are:

C,F,G (C Major, F Major, and G major)


http://snipurl.com/ghhe




#145267 07/25/05 02:26 PM
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You really are an idiot, aren't you?


#145268 07/25/05 04:42 PM
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You really are an idiot, aren't you?

Dear Churl:

Only an idiot would ask an "idiot" that question.

If you think postulating a plausible, alternative interpretation of the term you heard, but did not read, many years ago, is a sign of disrespect to you personally, then, dear Churl, you don't understand what a Discussion Board is really all about.

This is not a Mutual Admiration Society. We are not here to pat anyone on the back or to boost anyone's ego, or, for that matter, to diminish or deride anyone.

There is nothing personal in an intelligent discussion, Churl.


#145269 07/25/05 05:41 PM
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no churl, you don't realize--when you or i speculate.. or make a WAG (wild a**ed guess) it's all in good fun.

PLUTARCH doesn't make WAG's. He pontificates. Catholic Popes rare invoke the papal voice that is use to declare a truth.. most of what the pope said is held to be just words from a man wise enough to rise the position of pope.

every once in a while, a pope will make a pronouncement that is held to be "from god"

But PLUTARCH-He is sure every word he writes or utters in the supreme truth.. from god mouth to his ear exclusively, and we had all better listen.. HE KNOWS. NO WAG's for him. his speculations are sights to behold..

idiot? maybe. Egotist? undoubtedly.. and wrong? NEVER.
or so he believes..
now if he could only get everyone in the world to see it.

(but alas, most of us here are nonbelievers)


#145270 07/25/05 05:44 PM
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god, would you people just shut up? isn't there enough crap going on in the world without you adding to it?



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#145271 07/25/05 05:47 PM
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Let's look at what Plutarch really said, Of Troy, to incite Churl into calling him an "idiot" and you into denouncing him for "pontificating" with "papal voice".

I suspect your conclusion was correct, Churl Pat, but my guess is that the Naval Officer had a musical background and he was using the expression "in G", not "in gee".





#145272 07/25/05 06:00 PM
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I suspect keys are inherently no easier or more difficult for singers in general (instrumentalists are another story). I like E flat myownsef most of the time, when/if I get the choice.

With a nod to etaoin, I want to welcome you aBoard, Churl Pat, and just comment that every unmoderated board will have its troublemaker. Not much we can do about it as things stand, though many of us (including moi) have tried. I hope you will continue to contribute, despite that. It's good to have another Brit here; we need the input!


#145273 07/25/05 07:04 PM
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every unmoderated board will have its troublemaker. Not much we can do about it as things stand, though many of us (including moi) have tried

How true, ASp, and some boards will have a whole clique of ruling troublemakers.

By the way, I think you are far too modest in describing your personal efforts to drive Plutarch away.

You and Of Troy, along with your new alter ego, Churl Pat, have led the Holy Carpal Crusade against Plutarch for months, if not for years, even when all other old-timers lost their appetite for your self-immolating Crusade.






#145274 07/25/05 08:48 PM
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Fact: Last year, i was a champion of Plutarchs.

Fact: last year, i was in regular PM contact with him

Fact: Last year Plutarch was claiming that Faldage was out to get him.

Fact: Plutark has driven away poster after poster.

Fact: plutarck is the poster with the most sock puppets to his name. posting defense, posting whole conversation with himself (under his various names.) Anastrophic and i have always been ourselves and don't change our on line names as frequently as we change the oil in car. (not so with plutarch)
Fact:...
oh forget it. he lives in fantasy world.. inhabited by himself and his 2 dozen alter egos--all as self centered as he is.


#145275 07/25/05 09:04 PM
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Dear Of Troy:

I have been an admirer of your talents from the beginning, and would be again if you would focus them on creative ideas, where your true talent lies, and not obsess yourself with self-destructive hatred of me.

I am no threat to you, Of Troy. I am no threat to you or your talent.

How often have I offered peace, Of Troy, and how often have you and ASp refused it?

Let's go back to December 2004, in the weeks before Christmas.

How many times, in the weeks both before and after Christmas 2004, did I offer to put the past behind and make peace in the spirit of Christmas, if not for ourselves, then at least for the good of the Board?

And how many times did you and ASp come storming back in ferocious attack, as a team, again and again, unprovoked, with Plutarch turning the other cheek each and every time?

How long did this extended diatribe of yours and ASp go on, Of Troy, after I offered, no begged, for peace in the best interests of the Board at large? For 3 months and more, Of Troy, until at last, Plutarch, called it quits when you and ASp defended, unblushingly, that "gold showers" vulgarity posted as an insult in reply to my "Golden Rule" post: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

At that point, I thought even the old-timers themselves would have had enough of your disastrous warmongering, Of Troy. Yours and ASp's.

Yet I return after several weeks, as Carpathian to test the waters and to caution that there will be no more "turn-the-other-cheek" Plutarch, and you and ASp are as full of malice and selfish bellicosity as ever.

These are facts which are subject to independent corroboration, Of Troy.

These are real facts. Not imagined or manipulated facts or half-truths.




#145276 07/25/05 09:29 PM
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This is all so much unmitigated blatherskite (that's bullshit in American, folks). You should ALL be ashamed of yourselves for subjugating everyone to this periodic cavilling and finger-pointing.

Oh, I hope I don't get banned for typing that word up there. C'mon, Jackie! Do your stuff and delete everything in this thread subsequent to JG's last post.

The Lone Haranguer

[edit]It really is awfully annoying to see posts edited and re-edited, without notice, as though the poster was giving no thought to what he was at first posting.[/edit]


The Lone Haranguer
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