23 skidoo (phrase)

For the band, see 23 Skidoo (band).
A postcard from 1905; the Flatiron Building in the background shows that 23rd Street is the location. This is the most widely known explanation for the phrase "23 skidoo".

23 skidoo (sometimes 23 skiddoo) is an American slang phrase popularized during the early 20th century. It generally refers to leaving quickly, being forced to leave quickly by someone else, or taking advantage of a propitious opportunity to leave, that is, "getting [out] while the getting's good." The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain.

23 skidoo has been described as "perhaps the first truly national fad expression and one of the most popular fad expressions to appear in the U.S," to the extent that "Pennants and arm-bands at shore resorts, parks, and county fairs bore either [23] or the word 'Skiddoo'."[1]

"23 skidoo," first attested in 1906, combines two earlier expressions, "twenty-three" (1899)[2] and "skidoo" (1901), both of which, independently and separately, referred to leaving, being kicked out, or the end of something. "23 skidoo" quickly became a popular catch-phrase after its first appearance in early 1906.[3]

Origin

Although there are a number of stories suggesting the possible origin of the phrase, none has been universally accepted.

The word skidoo, used by itself as a noun denoting a supposed bringer of bad luck, is attested in the early 1910s, in P.G. Wodehouse's Psmith, Journalist.[4] It appeared in newspapers as early as 1906.[5]

Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, c. 1903.
A woman's skirt blows up on 23rd Street, possible source of the phrase. Circa 1901 (From What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City)

Perhaps the most widely known story of the origin of the expression concerns the area around the triangular-shaped Flatiron Building at Madison Square in New York City. The building is located on 23rd Street at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, the latter two of which intersect at an acute angle. Because of the shape of the building, winds swirl around it. During the early 1900s, groups of men reportedly gathered to watch women walking by have their skirts blown up, revealing legs, which were seldom seen publicly at that time. Local constables, when sometimes telling such groups of men to leave the area, were said to be "giving them the 23 Skidoo".[6] An early nickelodeon movie, What Happened on Twenty-third Street, which dates from 1901, shows a woman's skirt being lifted by the updraft from a ventilation grate, exposing her knees.[7]

Some consider the Flatiron Building origin claim dubious because the slang expressions "23" and "skidoo" were already in use before 1902,[8] the year in which the Flatiron Building was built.

"23" (or "Twenty-Three")

Webster's New World Dictionary derives skiddoo (with two d's) as probably from skedaddle, meaning "to leave", with an imperative sense.

The earliest-known reference to the slang expression "23" (or "twenty-three") is from early 1899:

For some time past there has been going the rounds of the men about town the slang phrase "Twenty-three." The meaning attached to it is to "move on," "get out," "good-bye, glad you are gone," "your move" and so on. To the initiated it is used with effect in a jocular manner.

It has only a significance to local men and is not in vogue elsewhere. Such expressions often obtain a national use, as instanced by "rats!" "cheese it," etc., which were once in use throughout the length and breadth of the land.

Such phrases originated, no one can say when. It is ventured that this expression originated with Charles Dickens in the Tale of Two Cities. Though the significance is distorted from its first use, it may be traced. The phrase "Twenty-three" is in a sentence in the close of that powerful novel. Sidney Carton, the hero of the novel, goes to the guillotine in place of Charles Darnay, the husband of the woman he loves. The time is during the French Revolution, when prisoners were guillotined by the hundred. The prisoners are beheaded according to their number. Twenty-two has gone and Sidney Carton answers to – Twenty-three. His career is ended and he passes from view.[9][10]

At the time, a stage version of A Tale of Two Cities, The Only Way, was playing in London. The production moved to New York City later that year; it opened at the Herald Square Theatre on September 16, 1899. Less than two months later, popular slang author George Ade described having heard a new slang expression, "twenty-three":

By the way, I have come upon a new piece of slang within the past two months and it has puzzled me. I just heard it from a big newsboy who had a ‘stand’ on a corner. A small boy with several papers under his arm had edged up until he was trespassing on the territory of the other. When the big boy saw the small one he went at him in a threatening manner and said: ‘Here! Here! Twenty-three! Twenty-three!’ The small boy scowled and talked under his breath, but he moved away. A few days after that I saw a street beggar approach a well-dressed man, who might have been a bookmaker or horseman, and try for the usual ‘touch’. The man looked at the beggar in cold disgust and said: ‘Aw, twenty-three!’ I could see that the beggar didn’t understand it any better than I did. I happened to meet a man who tries to ‘keep up’ on slang and I asked the meaning of ‘Twenty-three!’ He said it was a signal to clear out, run, get away.[11]

In the same interview, Ade described two purported origin stories he had heard: that it was, "from the English race tracks, twenty-three being the limit on the number of horses allowed to start in one race" or that it had been a signal used in a plot to free a Mexican embezzler from custody in New Orleans.

Skidoo

The word, Skidoo, was the name of a Lark-class racing sailboat that competed in races on Long Island Sound during the 1901 racing season.[12] The Skidoo competed every summer through at least 1904.[8]

Skidoo is attested, in its conventional, slang sense, by 1904.[13] Skidoo-wagon (as well as "skidoodle wagon" and "skedaddle wagon") was a short-lived euphemism for automobiles during 1904–1905.[3]

The word skidoo, used by itself as a noun denoting a supposed bringer of bad luck, is attested in the early 1910s, in P.G. Wodehouse's Psmith, Journalist.[4]

Twenty-Three, Skidoo!

Both of the slang expressions, 23 and skidoo, were used in George M. Cohan's 1904 musical play, Little Johnny Jones.[14] Numerous news items from the period credited either Cohan or Tom Lewis (the actor performing the role that spoke those lines in the play) with creating or popularizing one or both of the expressions.[15][16] Even before the expression, "23, skidoo!," became popular in its own right, 23 (or twenty-three) and skidoo were frequently used in conjunction with, or near one another, in the same sentence or paragraph; 23 often as part of the phrase, "23 for you (or yours)."[3] For example, "Skiddoo! Git! Twenty-three for yours!,"[17] or "Twenty-three for his! Skidoo."[18]

The earliest known use of the expression, in the familiar, "23," skidoo!, form, is an advertisement for Billy B. Van's show, The Errand Boy:

Billy B. Van's Great Hit, in "The Errand Boy." 23--Skiddoo!! by Miller and Boecher.

The phrase quickly became a ubiquitous catch-phrase.

Other explanations

Examples of use

"23 SKIDOO!" on an early 20th century button
Advertisement for a 23 Skidoo Badge in The New York Tribune (29 July 1906)

See also

References

Notes

  1. Wentworth, Harold; Stuart Berg Flexner (1960). Dictionary of American Slang. Thomas Y. Crowell.
  2. Popik, Barry. "Twenty-Three Skidoo (myth)". The Big Apple. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Brown, Peter Jensen. "Skedaddle, Skidoodle, Skidoo - the Vanishing History and Etymology of Twenty-three Skidoo". Early Sports 'n' Pop Culture History Blog. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 Wodehouse, P.G. (2011) [First published 1915]. Psmith, Journalist. CreateSpace. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-4662-7530-0.
  5. Benecke, Mark (2011). "The Numerology of 23". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. 35 (3): 49–53.
  6. Douglas, George H. (2004). Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America. McFarland and Co. ISBN 0-7864-2030-8. p. 39 "The intersection in front of the [Flatiron Building] was always a congested spot, and a windy one, too, and in the old days the corner was a famous spot for young lads to watch women's skirts being whipped around. So famous was the spot, in fact, that policemen would occasionally have to shoo away these perpetual watches, and the expression 'Twenty-three Skidoo' was said to have been born on this windswept corner."
  7. Independent Film Channel Indie Sex: Censored (2007), viewed 2/10/2008
  8. 1 2 Brown, Peter Jensen. "Skidaddle, Skidoodle, and Skidoo - the Vanishing History and Etymology of Twenty-Three Skidoo". Early Sports 'n' Pop Culture History Blog. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  9. "none". The Morning Herald (Lexington, Kentucky). March 17, 1899.
  10. Popik, Barry. "Twenty-three Skidoo Myth". The Big Apple. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  11. "none". The Washington Post. October 22, 1899.
  12. Aldridge, A. F. (1902). The Yachting Record: Summaries of All Races Sailed on New York Harbor, Long Island Sound and Off Newport, in 1901. New York: Thompson and Company.
  13. Green, Martin (April 18, 1904). "The Man Higher Up". The Evening World. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  14. "The Bright Ones". Los Angeles Herald. April 5, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 5 March 2015. Tom Lewis, as the Unknown, is responsible for most of the good ones and his "23" and "skiddoo" and a few others never failed.
  15. "Answers to Queries: Twenty-Three". The San Francisco Call. September 3, 1906. p. 8. Retrieved 5 March 2015. The man who introduced "Twenty-three Skidoo" to the people of the United States was George Cohan, the vaudeville singer.
  16. ""Yankee Prince" Next Attraction at the Columbia". The Washington Times. September 12, 1912. p. 11. Retrieved 5 March 2015. Mr. Lewis, famous the country over as originator and best exponent of many familiar slang phrases, such as . . . "twenty-three" . . . .
  17. "Jiu Jitsu Sells". Dakota Farmers' Leader. August 18, 1905.
  18. "none". Goodwin's Weekly. January 6, 1906.
  19. "'Tad,' Cartoonist, Dies In His Sleep.". New York Times. May 3, 1929. Thomas A. Dorgan, Famous For His 'Indoor Sports,' Victim of Heart Disease. Was A Shut-In For Years. Worked Cheerfully at Home in Great Neck on Drawings That Amused Countless Thousands. His slangy breeziness won immediate circulation. It was he who first said 'Twenty-three, Skidoo,' and 'Yes, we have no bananas,' 'apple sauce' and 'solid ivory.' Other expressions that are now part of the American vernacular include 'cake-eater,' 'drug-store cowboy,' 'storm and strife,' 'Dumb Dora,' 'dumb-bell,' 'finale hopper,' 'Benny' for hat and 'dogs' for shoes.
  20. Mansch, Larry D. (1998). Rube Marquard: The Life & Times of a Baseball Hall of Famer. McFarland and Company. ISBN 0-7864-0497-3.p. 96, "Lewis sat on Mike's lap and acted as a dummy to Mike's ventriloquist. The pair first came up with the expression 'twenty-three skidoo.'"
  21. 1 2 "Twenty three skidoo". "The Phrase finder". Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
  22. Richard Phillips Numbers from one to thirty-one: 23
  23. Word Detective "23 skipdoo"
  24. Partridge, Eric (1992). Dictionary of Catch Phrases. Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8536-8.
  25. G.M. Dodge. ""1859 Western Union "92 Code"". Signal Corps Association. Retrieved 2006-06-03.
  26. Adam Selzer. "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear: The Long History of a Jump Rope Rhyme". Playground Jungle. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  27. Irwin, Wallace (1908),
  28. Rathbone, St. George (1912),
  29. Smith, Betty (2005) [1943]. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. ISBN 0-06-073626-7., p. 118
  30. Gilbreth, Frank B.; Carey, Ernestine Gilbreth (2002) [1948]. Cheaper by the Dozen. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-008460-X. p. 67
  31. "British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry – Day 6 – Testimony of Charles Joughin, cont.". Titanic Inquiry Project.
  32. http://www.amara.org/en/videos/uoV8V7NWbHQ2/en/15259/

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