<snip>
Is 'hooley dooley' related to any of this? [JJ]
Guessing, Jill, I'd think 'hooley dooley' is independent of doolally (like
Steven's "dilly-dally") -- an extension of the simple "hooley" (Irish -- a
wild party, and extended senses) (glossed in both Beale/Partridge 8 and
Cassell Slang) ? [RH]
<snip>
Also guessing...
Hooley < holy (I was fairly confident of that; Cf 'holy moley' etc). But why
dooley? I'd assumed some bloke called Dooley. At which point I checked C A
Wilkes' little dictionary: 'holey dollar see dollar,' he says. Under 'holey
dollar', he then cites J P Townshend (*Rambles and Observations in New South
Wales; 1849): '[Ulladulla, NSW] ... is commonly called Holey Dollar'.
So the answer _appears_ to be that hooley comes from 'hole' (because holey
dollars have a centre piece cut out); that the whole expression found
strength from Ulladulla, and that it came to mean much the same as 'holy
moley', with 'hooley' now being interpreted as 'holy' rather than holey'.
Unless I'm way off the mark.
CW
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