"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Friday, 19 June 2009

Heebie jeebies

 
Shabby Girl commented on a beetle photo of mine giving her the heebie jeebies.

The heebie jeebies is a term used to describe a general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea; the jitters.

This term seems to hark back to earlier rhyming phrases, like hocus-pocus and mumbo-jumbo, with a touch of the jitters thrown in. Heebie and jeebie don't mean anything as independent words and heebie jeebies was coined in the USA in the 1920s - a time and place when there was a spate of new nonsense rhyming pairs, called rhyming reduplications, - the bee's knees, etc.

The first citation of it in print is in a 1923 cartoon by William Morgan "Billy" de Beck. "You dumb ox - why don't you get that stupid look offa your pan - you gimme the heeby jeebys!"

Heebie jeebies caught on quickly and very soon began appearing in many newspapers and works of literature in the USA and, from 1927 onward, the UK.
 
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2 comments:

  1. Saz19 June 2009 at 15:48

    its funny how your words are all my favourites...l love this and wish l had time to visit daily...

    saz x

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  2. shabby girl20 June 2009 at 02:58

    SS! It describes it "to a tee!" I particularly love the line, "You dumb ox - why don't you get that stupid look offa your pan - you gimme the heeby jeebys!"
    I had a great laugh tonight! Thank you!!!

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