On Jul 16, 2005, at 11:56 PM, Ken Durling wrote:
As long as we're talking about slang superlatives, I'd like to hear
some theories about where "fly" came from or how it came to mean what
it does. I was surprised to read that it was in usage in the 30's -
in Duke's "Music is my Mistress" with much the same meaning (fly girl)
as it has now, or well, at least it did in the 70's. I suppose it's
gone now. And don't tell me it's an acronym for "Fine Lady, Young."
;-)
Ken
"Fly" as an adjective meaning "cunning, wide-awake" goes back to 1811,
according to the OED. No derivation is given, but compare "there ain't
no flies on her!"
I remember a joke from the '70s to the effect that "Fly, robin, fly!"
was something Batman said to his sidekick.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
