I just ran across this phrase in a book. It has a certain appeal and, I think, is not without charm but requires some evaluation.
For instance: What the heck does it really mean? What would it mean if it were your company's motto or mission statement or vision? Would you paint it on your truck?
I guess it depends on your definition of Slap Dash. It seems to have a negative connotation, doesn't it?
Also Half-Assed.
What does that really mean?
It could be bedtime soon...
Don
Don,
I believe "slap dash" might have its origin in a hurried and roughly applied first coat of plaster. After the invention of sheet rock the saying fell into the miscellaneous bin and has since been used by everybody...
I'm not sure, but I think Moses probably used the term "half assed" when describing Pharaoh's feeble attempt to cross the Red Sea in chariots...
By far the earliest instance of "half-assed" that a Google Books search turns up is from Thomas O'Brien & Oliver Diefendorf, General Orders of the [U.S.] War Department, Embracing the Years 1861, 1862 & 1863, volume 2 (1864), reporting on the court-martial of Captain John H. Behan on February 19, 1863:
Charge I.—"Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline."
Specification 1st.—"In this ; that he, the said Captain John H. Behan, Company F, 16th Regiment Virginia Volunteers, while on duty in camp, on or about the 12th day of December, 1862, did use abusive and grossly insulting language to Joseph B. Hamilton, 2d Lieutenant of said Company F, before and in the presence of said Company F, while he, the said Joseph B. Hamilton, was on duty and was acting Adjutant of said 16th Regiment Virginia Volunteers, in words as follows, to wit: 'There goes our half-assed Adjutant ;' which was calculated to impair and weaken the influence and control of said Lieutenant Joseph B. Hamilton as Adjutant of said regiment, and also his influence and control over said Company. All this at or near Miner's Hill, Virginia, on or about the 12th day of December, 1862."
Thank you, dear Paden.
I expected nothing less than a scholarly response.
You did not disappoint me.
🙂
Don
Dang. I thought it was half fast all this time. I guess I've been spelling it incorrectly. I'm not slow and I'm not fast, just sort of half fast.
6 a one, half dozen the other.
Well....half-ass is defined well enough... I do it all the time...haha! Slap Dash? It's a term for me to learn about....
I'm with you on that one Beer. 1/2 of anything is almost a complete one, if they try harder. Funniest part I've learned in my life is that they keep trying. Even me sometimes.... :'(
Don't know about that slap dash lingo though. Sounds almost hockey like, and we don't mess with that this time of year. I just hope it's not some kind of wierdo movie clip from someplace we don't want to go to. Wendell won't like that either. We could call the Hanson brothers from Slap Shot, they'll keep it straight.
"slam bang" and "wham bam" come to mind as something similar to "slap dash".
E
> Thank you, dear Paden.
> I expected nothing less than a scholarly response.
> You did not disappoint me.
> 🙂
> Don
I had a boss once that asked me how many times I "had been slapped into next week" for my insolence. Is that kinda how 'undisappointed' you are? 😉
Yes, things like that (slap dash) trigger perpetual confusion in me. Other things that drive me crazy are: how electricity works, women in general (they are not from Venus, they are from hell (sometimes), and why men have nipples.
I haven't a clue :'(
That's the name of Pete Fountain's Mardi Gras marching band, "The Half Fast Marching Band," I believe.
