Words of Georgia
Nothing like an etymological tour of arbitrary states of the
USA. First was California, then Pennsylvania, and this
week we’re off to Georgia.
The
word jarhead,
meaning US Marine, showed up first in
print in 1985 in a biographical book about WWII. Interestingly, the word jarhead
was in use much earlier. In the 1920s in the state of Georgia, jarhead
meant mule.
Though
other sources have been proposed, the most likely source of the word lulu
heralds from the state of Georgia. 15-year-old Georgian vaudeville performer, Lulu
Hurst, became a sensation in 1883. She could cause canes, umbrellas, or
chairs held firmly by resolute audience members to move and shake (or so it
seemed). Once her methods were discovered, she quit show business, even
cancelling a vaudeville tour of Europe. Ever since, though, something amazing or remarkable can be referred to
as a lulu.
Snake oil took America by storm in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Linguists
aren’t certain where the term was first uttered, but it certainly made its way
to Georgia. There appears to be little correlation with the remedy’s
ingredients & its name, though records show many charlatans and barkers
claimed it was made of rattlesnake oil. In Georgia, snake oil was said to
cure rheumatism & gout, in Pennsylvania it was said to cure deafness, &
in the states in between, it was said to cure pretty much everything in between.
From
relative obscurity in an Atlanta, Georgia strip club in 2005, the word twerk
became a national sensation. It could be argued that countless earlier dancers danced in a manner meant to simulate copulation,
but the honor of introducing greater America to the term goes to The Ying Yang
Twins. Before their big hit in 2005, the term was popular in southern hip-hop
circles for at least ten years.
Much earlier in Atlanta (1886), Dr. John S. Pemberton invented Coca-Cola.
The inspiration for the name came because the original ingredients were derived
from cola
nuts and coca leaves. Pemberton marketed his fizzy drink as a “brain
tonic” and “intellectual soda fountain beverage”. An interesting non-Georgia
related historic tidbit is that in 1950, the wine growers & communists of
France joined together to attempt a ban on Coca-Cola, which was seen as both a
threat to the French wine industry & an ugly example of American
capitalism.
How
about all these Georgia words? I hope you’ll leave a comment or two.
So interesting. I love that Lulu was an actual person who performed acts of deception. Snake oil certainly was a deceptive product. As was Coca Cola when it was presented as a brain tonic. Wait...maybe that one is true, when it had cocaine in it.
ReplyDeleteOn the origin of lulu. Wondered where that came from. Another great journey thru etymology. I love your posts. Have you researched humdinger? Wonder where that came from. Just word associations here but it's such fun.
ReplyDeleteHey Paul & Christine - thanks so much for coming by. Wouldn't it be wild to have been The Lulu of all lulus? And as to humdingers....hmmm.
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