A daisy by any other name...

might mean something different?

The other day, a random thought accosted me. Yes, it happens a lot. Like stray animals, weird men and clouds of bad perfume, random thoughts and irrelevant conversational tangents tend to follow me wherever I go (kinda like now?).

Anyway, I started thinking about some common phrases that we all use and understand but don't necessarily know where they came from -- or their original meanings.

I think we all have heard that the childhood song/game "Ring around the Rosies" is a reference to the plague (whether or not that's true is a matter of dispute, it seems). And then there's the "Eeny, meeny, miney, mo" song. Some original lyrics had instead of "catch a tiger by the toe", "catch a [insert N-word here] by the toe"... Who knew? Until recently, I sure didn't. I just thought it was perfectly acceptable as a child to try and catch a tiger by the toe. Of course, when he hollered, I'd let him go.

Well, the random thought that seized upon me -- and spurred this rambling post -- was "what's the difference between 'upsy-daisy' and 'oopsy-daisy' or 'oops a daisy' (I've seen it written both ways) and where did the expression come from?" (and who cares? I know what you're thinking!)

Good ol' google solves the mystery. According to Random House (THE place to explore random thoughts!), the Mavens' word-a-day says:

Upsy-daisy, also ups-a-daisy, was first recorded in 1862 as "a common ejaculation when a child, in play, is assisted in a spring-leap from the ground". The phrase appears to have been based on an older expression up-a-daisy or up-a-day in some dialects.

So what's all this about a daisy? Well, there is always the outside chance that we are talking about the flower name that comes from the Old English daegesege. It's more likely, though, that the daisy in upsy-daisy comes from (lack)aday with the adjectival suffix –sy tacked on. The documentation is weak, but variants in several dialects point to this possibility and it makes good semantic sense.

For many people upsy-daisy and oopsy-daisy are two pronunciations of the same word. For other people, oopsy-daisy and whoopsy-daisy are just variants of oops and whoops. This meaning has existed since 1925 when a New Yorker caption read "Whoopsie Daisy!" Oops and whoops have been exclamations of dismay since the early 1920s.

So, upsy-daisy means 'up' to almost everyone, and whoopsy-daisy means 'down' (falling or dropping), but there is a gray area surrounding oopsy-daisy. For some people (perhaps for you?), it is another way to say upsy-daisy, something to say to children when you pick them up. For others (including me) it is a diminutive of oops, something to say to your friends after your third margarita when you accidentally spill tequila on yourself. Both interpretations are common.

This random thought/public service announcement brought to you courtesy of She says.