April Fools

Maybe today you were the victim of a practical joke. For centuries, April 1 has been a day marked by hoaxes and practical jokes played on people around the world.  If you fall for one of these pranks, then you are an April fool.

This tradition goes back to Europe in the mid-1600s and crossed over to the English-speaking world in the late seventeenth century.

Although the origin of April Fools is still debatable, most references trace it back to France and the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century.

Up until 1564, the Julian calendar was the accepted one to use in France and the beginning of the New Year was around April. But King Charles IX declared that France would begin using the Gregorian calendar which has New Year's Day on January 1.

Those who did not accept the change became the focus of April jokes and were mocked as fools. Pranks were played on, like being invited to parties that never occurred. In rural areas, word of the change was not always known, so these people were also mocked for celebrating the new year on the wrong day.

The tradition of pranking these "fools" commonly included sneaking a paper fish to their backs. These victims were called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish. Today the term is still used in France for April Fools where the tradition is more popular with younger children. Bakeries and chocolatiers even make fish-shaped treats for the "holiday."

Why related to fish? That's unclear but it has been suggested that it relates to the zodiac sign of Pisces (a fish), which falls near April.

In Italy,  Il Pesce d’Aprile, or April’s Fish, is very similar. Youngsters secretly attach a paper cutout pesciolino (small fish) to the back of a school companion and then everyone asks, "L’hai visto?—Chi?—Il pesce d’Aprile!" (or Have you seen?—Who?—the April Fool!) and laugh at the Fool.

In France, Italy, the United States and other countries, adults get in on the game - usually minus the fish.

basket cases

“Basket case” has multiple meanings nowadays. Referring to a person it often means someone unable to cope with mental or emotional stress, especially due to anxiety. It can be temporary. Someone who is very nervous, tired, and unable to think or act normally. "By the end of the day, he was a complete basket case".

Used to describe a non-person, it can be anything that is impaired or incapable of functioning ot is beyond repair. For example, "The company was in such financial trouble, it was considered a basket case".

Simply defined, it means stressed out, or unable to cope

But why basket? 

WWI wounded arriving at triage station, Suippes, France

In World War I, soldiers who had lost all of their limbs and could not be safely carried on stretchers were put into makeshift baskets. The term is considered insulting and dates back to around 1919. 

The Oxford English Dictionary says the colloquial term “basket case” originated in the United States shortly after World War I, and meant “a person, esp. a soldier, who has lost all four limbs.”

But there is some evidence that is a mythic origin.

"However, the phrase, which initially referred to American soldiers supposedly left limbless by the war, was a product of the postwar rumor mill in the US. No quadruple-amputee American soldiers existed, and there’s no evidence that any head-and-torso survivors from any country were carried around in baskets."

Doobie Brothers, marijuana and doobies

The Doobie Brothers started when drummer John Hartman went to California in 1969 hoping to meet Skip Spence of Moby Grape. He wanted to join a Moby Grape reunion that never happened.

Spence introduced Hartman to singer, guitarist and songwriter Tom Johnston and the two proceeded to form the nucleus of what would become The Doobie Brothers. They called that early incarnation "Pud," and had a number of lineups and styles. As a "power trio" with bassist Greg Murphy and later with a horn section, they gigged around San Jose. In 1970 they teamed up with bass player Dave Shogren and singer, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Simmons.

Johnston has said that the Doobie Brothers name can be credited to a friend who thought it served the band's fondness for "doobies" - a slang for marijuana cigarettes.

Since this site is more about name etymologies (and not really a music site), let's take a look at the doobie connection.

Marijuana has always had a good number of nicknames. "Joints" is a common one. "Spliffs" is another that refers to cigarettes rolled with a bit of cardboard or a rolled business card in one end to serve as a mouthpiece. These are also known as a "crutch" or "roach." In North America, "roach" usually means the smoked-down butt of a joint.

Where did "joint" as a marijuana cigarette come from?  Ultimately, it's from French where it is an adjective meaning "joined" (past participle of the verb joindre). And that comes from the Latin iunctus, the past participle of iungo meaning "I join."

You might guess it has something to do with joining that spliff filter/mouthpiece, but it seems not.

By 1821, "joint" had become an Anglo-Irish term for an annex, or a side-room that is "joined" to a main room. By 1877, this had developed into U.S. slang for a place, building, or establishment that had a negative or questionable association - like an opium den.

By 1935, "joint" was being used to refer to the hypodermic needles used to inject heroin and other drugs at such establishments.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, its first usage in the sense of "marijuana cigarette" is dated to 1938.

Before we get back to the band, let's just say that for our international readers in Europe, some Commonwealth nations and the Middle-East, joints or "spliffs" are rolled by mixing cannabis or hashish with tobacco.

A more modern usage of the past 20 years in North America is the term "blunt" which is rolled using a cigar skin, from which the filler tobacco has been removed, and replaced by marijuana.

The Doobie Brothers played live all over Northern California in 1970 and attracted enough of a following to get a contract at Warner Bros. Records. Their following was not essentially potheads but leather-jacketed motorcycle fans.

But the band's 1971 self-titled debut album didn't really play to that audience and featured acoustic guitars and some country influences.

Album two was Toulouse Street and had the more rock-oriented hits "Listen to the Music" and  a cover of The Byrds' recording of "Jesus Is Just Alright."

With some changes to the rhythm section, their sound became more of a mashup of R&B,  country, bluegrass, hard rock, roadhouse boogie, and rock and roll.


They had a string of hits in 1973 including two songs that every bar band covered -  "Long Train Runnin" and "China Grove" from the 1973 album The Captain and Me.

Personally, I liked the addition of Steely Dan's (see our post on that band) guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.

They had their first #1 single with "Black Water."

What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits was a multi-platinum album. The album also has the horn-driven funk song "Eyes of Silver" and during this period and for several subsequent tours, the Doobies were often supported on-stage by Stax Records legends The Memphis Horns

The band was under contract to release another album in 1976 and they turned to Michael McDonald to add songs to Simmons and Porter's offerings. The resulting album was Takin' It to the Streets which marked another change to the sound which pleased some listeners and pissed off some of their original followers.

Their harder guitar-based rock gave way to "blue-eyed soul" and soft rock with keyboards and horns.  Baxter and MacDonald had both spent time in Steely Dan and Baxter's playing was more jazz-inflected guitar and McDonald's voice became the voice of the band in this period. His "Takin' It to the Streets," and "It Keeps You Runnin" were both hits.

A greatest hits compilation, Best of the Doobies, also came out that year and it was certified in 1996 by the RIAA as "Diamond" for sales in excess of ten million. The follow-up was a volume two of songs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doobie_Brothers

• Very Best Of The Doobie Brothers
• World Gone Crazy
• Captain & Me
• Toulouse Street
• What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
• Minute By Minute
• Takin' It to the Streets
• Doobie Brothers
• Stampede
• Livin' On the Fault Line

 

good riddance

Although I have heard the phrase "good riddance" used negatively - "He lost his reelection bid and good riddance to him" - the phrase really means to happily get rid of something that is considered worthless. I suppose in that example the speaker does consider it happy and the loser as worthless. 

It is often used as an exclamation to indicate that a departure or loss is welcome. For example, "We got rid of lots of old clothing we never wear and good riddance to it." 

It is often used as a standalone exclamation - "Good riddance!" but the original full saying is "good riddance to bad rubbish."

We don’t use the word "riddance" anymore, apart from in the phrase "good riddance." Riddance is an obsolete word, but in Early Modern English it was a regular and useful word.

The phrase originated in William Shakespeare's 1609 play Troilus and Cressida. The word "riddance" itself has been recorded since 1525–35, and means the act of clearing away or out, as anything undesirable, or relief or deliverance from something.

Rid + ance is Middle English but Middle English it comes from Old Norse rythja which meant "to clear" and described clearing land of trees and undergrowth. This gave rise to ‘free from rubbish or encumbrances’, later becoming generalized as "good riddance to bad rubbish." 

The Arrow of Deliverance, print, after Arthur Murch, Dalziel Brothers

moxie and Moxie

As a word, "moxie" means something like "energy, determination, spunk, courage, nerve, spirit, or guts". This term has been around since the 1930s and has continued in use, to some extent, into the early 21st century. "That girl has got moxie!"

I thought to look for an origin when I came across on Netflix the film MOXiE!, a 2021 American young adult comedy-drama film directed by Amy Poehler. 

But Moxie with a capital "M" is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was originally marketed as "nerve food" which would "strengthen the nervous system" and was "very healthful" and a "drink for athletes" that "strengthens and invigorates" - hence its slang usage. 

It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called "Moxie Nerve Food" and was produced in Lowell, Massachusetts. Thompson claimed that it contained an extract from a rare, unnamed South American plant, which is now known to be gentian root. Thompson claimed that he named the beverage after Lieutenant Moxie, a purported friend of his, who he claimed had discovered the plant and used it as a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases (a panacea). 

from the 1922 ad "The Moxie Boy compels attention..."
Public Domain, Link

Etymologies say it likely derived from an Abenaki word that means "dark water" and that is found in lake and river names in Maine, where Thompson was born and raised. 

The sweet soda is similar to root beer, with a bitter aftertaste and it is flavored with gentian root extract, an extremely bitter substance commonly used in herbal medicine.

Moxie was designated the official soft drink of Maine in 2005 and continues to be regionally popular today, particularly in New England states, and is even available on Amazon. Moxie was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company in 2018.