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Vamoose

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:57 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• vamoose •

Pronunciation: væ-musHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: (Regional slang) To leave, take off, bug out, hit the road, beat it, push off, skidoo, split, take a powder (from our Historical Dictionary of American Slang).

Notes: Today's Good Word is pure slang originating in the US Southwest, and was very popular in US Westerns (cowboy movies) of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. It was another word in the vocabulary of an old favorite of mine in the Westerns of the 40s, Gabby Hayes, whom we have already cited for his use of cahoots "plotting with". Since it was borrowed from Spanish and materially corrupted, it remains a lexical orphan with no other English words related to it.

In Play: If you want to talk like a movie cowboy, you might say something like this to your kids: "Let's vamoose, little buckaroos, and see if we can't rustle up some grub." (Translation: "Let's go, kids, and see if we can't find some food.") You wouldn't want to use this word at a job interview, but in a situation where a little Western flavor would not be out of place, you might say, "As soon as the line dancing was over, everyone vamoosed as though they were all in cahoots."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a serious mispronunciation of Spanish vamos "let's go". Spanish inherited the word from Latin vadamus "were we to go", a form of vadere "to go". It is the same verb used in Henryk Sienkiewicz's famous historical novel (1895) Quo Vadis? "Where are you going?", a love story set in Rome during the reign of Nero. The Proto-Indo-European base wadh- "to go" entered Old English as wadan "to go" and came down to us as wade. The meaning of this word is not far removed from a Latin derivation of vadere, vadum "a ford". (We should not vamoose before thanking Barbara Kelly for bringing this funny English borrowing from our neighbors to the south.)

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:05 pm
by Philip Hudson
In Texas we love those transmogrified Spanish words.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:04 am
by MTC
Vamoose: Bellow of mother moose to her calves.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:37 am
by LukeJavan8
Me grandmither, of sainted memry, used it on us
chilluns, when she wanted us out of the bakery.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:00 pm
by Slava
If you want the 75th US Attorney General to scram, what do you say?

Vamoose Meese!

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:58 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Strictly and grammatically speaking don't you say let's go in Spanish by "vamonos?"

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:18 pm
by Slava
Strictly and grammatically speaking don't you say let's go in Spanish by "vamonos?"
I don't speak Spanish, so I hesitated to say anything on this point. Now that you have brought it up, I must say it sounds right to me, even if it is simply because I've seen the movie "West Side Story" several times.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:45 am
by Philip Hudson
I'm being a little picky. "Let's go" in Spanish is "vámonos". You really need the á. If one submits vamonos to a Spanish to English translation program, it doesn't work.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:06 am
by Slava
Pick away, pick away. Isn't that part of what we are here for?

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:24 am
by MTC
I'd say vamanos is correct Spanish for "Let's go!"--not vamos. Likely cowpokes corrupted vamanos to "vamoose," not such a stretch when you think about it.

As for vamanos, I've heard it most often in "Vamanos muchachos!" (Let's go, boys!) Anyone with even a smattering of Spanish who lives in the Southwest will recognize the expression, often employed humorously by gringos like me.
Here's a link to a lithograph entitled "Vamanos muchachos!" by a Western artist.
http://www.friendsofwesternart.org/page ... chos53.php

Adios, amigos.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 9:36 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Philip, I knew about the accent, but am lazy. Most of us on the forum often omit quotes, as I certainly do.

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:54 pm
by Philip Hudson
We are all singing off the same page here. I added a little grace note over the a to make it á. And of course Vamoose is an adaptation of vámonos. Can't I give Perry a little grief if I choose to? (smiley face)

Re: Vamoose

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:08 pm
by Perry Lassiter
#sobs