better hold on to your wig

[Quinn C]

I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
out" or "wigging".

The meaning was pretty clear from context, but I was wondering how
these idioms relate to other uses of "wig". A theory mentioned in
some dictionaries is that it derives from the idiom "flip one's
wig".

I had never noticed this usage before, but in the show, it is
rampant. So how common is it, really? It has an entry in the
American-Australian slang dictionary [1], so apparently, it's not
Australian.

____
[1] It is gone from the site that onelook.com refers to, but is
available at
<https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/american-australian-slang-dictionary>

--
Manche Dinge sind vorgeschrieben, weil man sie braucht, andere
braucht man nur, weil sie vorgeschrieben sind.
-- Helmut Richter in de.etc.sprache.deutsch

[Tony Cooper]

On Mon, 13 Feb 2017 14:32:22 -0500, Quinn C
<lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:

>I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
>the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
>out" or "wigging".
>
>The meaning was pretty clear from context, but I was wondering how
>these idioms relate to other uses of "wig". A theory mentioned in
>some dictionaries is that it derives from the idiom "flip one's
>wig".
>
>I had never noticed this usage before, but in the show, it is
>rampant. So how common is it, really?

Fairly common in US usage in the past, but it does seem dated now.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Harrison Hill]

On Monday, 13 February 2017 19:32:24 UTC, Quinn C wrote:
> I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
> the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
> out" or "wigging".
>
> The meaning was pretty clear from context, but I was wondering how
> these idioms relate to other uses of "wig". A theory mentioned in
> some dictionaries is that it derives from the idiom "flip one's
> wig".
>
> I had never noticed this usage before, but in the show, it is
> rampant. So how common is it, really? It has an entry in the
> American-Australian slang dictionary [1], so apparently, it's not
> Australian.
>
> ____
> [1] It is gone from the site that onelook.com refers to, but is
> available at
> <https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/american-australian-slang-dictionary>

I've never heard that expression or watched "The Gilmore Girls".

"Wigs" are inherently funny (like teapots) so turn up in schoolboy
BrE humour:

"He got a good wigging!" He got told off.
"Keep your wig on!" Calm down!

Consistent with the notion that when teachers are angry, they
have "steam coming out of their head" :)

[Ross]

"Flip your wig" - anything from losing your temper to going mad.
Common in slang from 1930s (Green). Also with other verbs
such as "blow".
Undoubtedly the source of "wig(v)", again referring to various
states of excitement or loss of control, from 1950s.

[Quinn C]

* Harrison Hill:

> On Monday, 13 February 2017 19:32:24 UTC, Quinn C wrote:
>> I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
>> the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
>> out" or "wigging".
>>
>> The meaning was pretty clear from context, but I was wondering how
>> these idioms relate to other uses of "wig". A theory mentioned in
>> some dictionaries is that it derives from the idiom "flip one's
>> wig".
>>
>> I had never noticed this usage before, but in the show, it is
>> rampant. So how common is it, really? It has an entry in the
>> American-Australian slang dictionary [1], so apparently, it's not
>> Australian.
>>
>> ____
>> [1] It is gone from the site that onelook.com refers to, but is
>> available at
>> <https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/american-australian-slang-dictionary>
>
> I've never heard that expression or watched "The Gilmore Girls".
>
> "Wigs" are inherently funny

Yeah, that could favor the use of wig-related phrases in a
humorous TV series.

In one of the latest episodes I watched, they had a bit of stale
making fun of someone's toupee.

> (like teapots) so turn up in schoolboy
> BrE humour:
>
> "He got a good wigging!" He got told off.
> "Keep your wig on!" Calm down!
>
> Consistent with the notion that when teachers are angry, they
> have "steam coming out of their head" :)

I usually picture this one coming from the ears, though.

--
Java is the SUV of programming tools.
A project done in Java will cost 5 times as much, take twice as
long, and be harder to maintain than a project done in a
scripting language such as PHP or Perl. - Philip Greenspun

[Pavel Svinchnik]

The mid-western U.S. term was to have steam coming out of your ears.

Paul

[Quinn C]

* Tony Cooper:

Then I guess that would have been the case when it was used in
Gilmore Girls, just over 10 years ago.

--
There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is
to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies.
And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no
obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.
-- C. A. R. Hoare

[Robert Bannister]

I'd have thought that was just about in all English-speaking areas.

--
Robert B. born England a long time ago;
Western Australia since 1972

[snide...@gmail.com]

Some of us can only attest to the practice in a few English-speaking areas.

/dps

[Robert Bannister]

I was only thinking, not attesting, Your Honour.

[Snidely]

On Wednesday or thereabouts, Robert Bannister asked ...

You are, though, more widely travelled than I. I can claim a moderate
amount of excursions into Canada (the longest, though, was just before
my 7th birthday, so I may have missed some speech practices). A small
excursion into Mexico. A bit of the British Isles (well, the main
island, sampled better in the north) and a touch of the Netherlands.

/dps

--
But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason
to 'be happy.'"
Viktor Frankl

[Sam Plusnet]

On 16/02/2017 06:07, Snidely wrote:

> and a touch of the Netherlands.

What a splendid title for... something or other.

--
Sam Plusnet

[Quinn C]

* Quinn C:

> I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
> the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
> out" or "wigging".

And now, they've added "wiggy" to the mix. They really like this
root.

Some dictionaries give an unrelated meaning to "wiggy" - "pompous"
- but I don't think that was meant on GG.

--
Was den Juengeren fehlt, sind keine Botschaften, es ist der Sinn
fuer Zusammenhaenge. [Young people aren't short of messages, but
of a sense for interconnections.]
-- Helen Feng im Zeit-Interview

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:58:29 -0500, Quinn C
<lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:

>* Quinn C:
>
>> I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" recently, and noticed that in
>> the show, people are often referred to as being "wigged", "wigged
>> out" or "wigging".
>
>And now, they've added "wiggy" to the mix. They really like this
>root.
>
>Some dictionaries give an unrelated meaning to "wiggy" - "pompous"
>- but I don't think that was meant on GG.

The OED gives two senses:

wiggy, adj.

1. [ < wig n.3 + -y suffix1.] Wearing, or distinguished by, a
wig, bewigged; sometimes implying ‘extremely grave, formal, or
ceremonious’.

1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington & Ormond I. vi. 121 And there's our
old apothecary..has taken such a fancy to her, but he's too old
and wiggy.
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 12 198 Those of the wisest and
wig-iest members of the fraternity.
....
2. [ < wig v.2 3] Mad, crazy, ‘freaky’. U.S. slang.

1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xxii. 96, I just got some new
jazz records from the States, Ace. Pretty wiggy.
1972 Last Whole Earth Catal. (Portola Inst.) 31/1 Traditionally
considerations such as his — economics, organizations, the future
— turn a prophet's soul terrible and dark or at least partially
wiggy.
1978 Amer. Poetry Rev. Nov.–Dec. 26/2 ‘Poor devil,’ she added,
‘he blew the star's fuse when we went wiggy for the Thin Man on a
cross.’

wig, v.2

3. [perhaps < wig v.1 or wig n.3 1.] intr. With out. To be
overcome by extreme emotion; to be stimulated to the point of
imbalance; to go mad, ‘freak out’. U.S. slang.


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Robert Bannister]

On 17/2/17 10:19 am, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> On 16/02/2017 06:07, Snidely wrote:
>
>> and a touch of the Netherlands.
>
> What a splendid title for... something or other.
>

Eau de Canal?