> Not on this side of the pond, Robin. At least I've never heard of it
> (& I dont recall my Pynchon well enough, obviously...)
It ran hard and fast in Glagow in the sixties (along with the gang-shouts,
"Tongs (or Cunbie) ya bas!"
There was a theory that the term "ya bas!" derived from Spanish Cuban, but
nobody I knew got close enough to verify this.
Whatever, it goes back to Pynchon and _V_
(Actually, Glasgow in the sixties, before even 68, was rather weird. I once
tried to run a heist on a Securior van, and got involved in an argument
between the driver and the guy who was running shotgun as to whether or not
I might be going to university with his daughter.
The shotgun, who was all for blowing me apart, was my age, but the driver
was older, and suspected that I might be sitting beside his daughter in
Moral Philosdphy lectures.
Only in Glasgow (or possibly Chicago) could this happen.
Eventually, I walked away, leaving them still arguing.
[Christ, it shows how time matters, as both the kid running shotgun and I
were both born after 45, which was the crunch year when they ablolished
National Service in the UK, so we had that in common.]
R.
|