Willies

[Dr. Goodword]

• willies •

Pronunciation: wi-leez • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, plural

Meaning: The creeps, jitters, a fearful uneasiness.

Notes: Fear is an emotion for which English slang offers a variety of expressions: (the) heebie-jeebies, creeps, shakes, shivers. These words refer to substantial fear though not enough to petrify us. (The) fidgets, jitters, colly-wobbles, and willies, are words expressing a lesser degree of fear, fearfulness or just queasiness. Notice that all these terms are treated like some common diseases by the use of the before them: We have the willies, the jitters, the creeps, just as we have the measles, the whooping-cough, the pox (= pocks), and even the blues.

In Play: Anything that frightens us gives us the willies: "I get the willies just thinking about asking the boss for a raise." Often we get the willies from normal things we all have to do: "Fred gets the willies every time he steps into the dentist's office."

Word History: No one knows for sure where this word originated, a state which has invited broad speculation. The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins claims that it is a reduction of willie-boy "sissy", but that hardly makes semantic sense. William Morris, the Word Detective, opines that it comes from the name of a Slavic sprite called a vila (vili "sprites") sometimes translated as wili. However, spelling the name of the vili with a W is German, where the letter W is pronounced [v]. The best guess in my opinion was suggested by Jackie Strauss, who also suggested the word itself. This word reminds Jackie of the woolies, which is to say scratchy wool long winter underwear. The willies are the same as the creeps, which suggests an uncomfortable skin sensation to me, too. So, I'm putting Jackie's speculation at the top of the list. All we need now is some evidence.

[bnjtokyo]

Evidence, we need evidence.
Etymonline, the etymological diction linked from this site give 1896 as the date of first use but does not cite the actual text.

I looked at the Ngram Viewer and came across the following
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... up;seq=439
It's a word list in Dialect Notes (The American Dialect Society, 1896)
It states only
willies: "To have the willies" to be nervous. Ithaca, N.Y."

Can anyone find more context?

I also found

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=3hr ... es&f=false
At the linked page Alan Dundes, now sadly deceased and a folklorist at UC Berkeley, states "The ghoulish quality and popularity of Little Willies led to the creation of the folk metaphor, 'to give someone the willies'"
(Cracking Jokes: Studies of Sick Humor Cycles & Stereotypes, Ten Speed Press, 1987) He states "Little Willie" verses first appeared about the turn of the century (as cited above1896 is close enough, eh?) and lasted until the 1930's

and

The Bellman, 1916
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=KLF ... hDoAQgkMAI
"An account of one day's doings of these armoured motors sound like a romance. The English soldiers call them 'Willies,' perhaps because it is enough to give one 'the willies' to see an object the resembles a prehistoric monster . . . ."
The "armoured motor" referred to here is the first tank introduced in World War I.

Other comments suggest "the Willies" could refer to the vengeful spirits (the Willis) in the folk tales that are behind the ballet "Giselle"

More contributions, please

[George Kovac]

The Bellman, 1916
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=KLF ... hDoAQgkMAI
"An account of one day's doings of these armoured motors sound like a romance. The English soldiers call them 'Willies,' perhaps because it is enough to give one 'the willies' to see an object the resembles a prehistoric monster . . . ."
The "armoured motor" referred to here is the first tank introduced in World War I.

I never knew that the WWI military "tanks" were called "willies" by the English.

Co-incidentally, the name "jeep"--a WWII military vehicle--is associated with the brand name "Willys," at least to baby boomers in the US.

A brief (well, not brief enough) history of "Willys" and the Jeep:

After WWI, Kaiser-Willys (which manufactured the vehicle for the US Army during WWII) sold civilian versions of the vehicle, variously known as a "Kaiser Jeep" or a "Willys Jeep" or, most commonly, just "Jeep." It was a bit of a novelty, a niche vehicle in a time of mass marketing and consumer conformity, but I still remember television commercials for the Kaiser-Willys Jeep in the late 50s and early 60s. They were notable because the vehicle seemed so odd among the sedans, convertibles and station wagons, and because Kaiser-Willys was a hopeless player in a market realistically limited to the "big three" automakers (Ford, GM, Chrsler) in those quaint years before Japanese and German cars entered the American market in significant numbers

American Motors acquired the rights to the Jeep vehicle around 1970. Sales of the Jeep sustained struggling American Motors long enough until AMC could be acquired by Renault. Renault later sold the remnants of AMC to Chrysler,which jettisoned as worthless all AMC brands other than Jeep. Chrysler was then briefly owned by the German automaker Damlier, maker of Mercedes Benz. Damlier later spun off Chrysler as a bad fit. Chrysler was acquired by Fiat when the US auto market collapsed in the Great Recession. In the reorganization of the Chrysler model line up at that time, Jeep emerged as a separate and surviving brand of Fiat/Chrysler. And what a survivor: the Jeep has outlasted numerous car manufacturers for three quarters of a century, which, each in turn, have tried to exploit the vehicle to prop up its sales of other consumer vehicles.

But I doubt, etymologically, that the WWI "willies" tank is related to the WWII "Willys" Jeep, or that either is related to today's good word. But this is how folk etymologies originate and proliferate...closely related sounds which do not share a common source, against which an inventive backstory can be created.

[bnjtokyo]

I looked up the history of tanks.
http://www.tankmuseum.org/museum-online ... -e1949-322
According to The Tank Museum that has an early tank in its collection, the name "Willys" is thought to have been a derogatory reference to the German Crown Prince. Thus it was not connected with the Willys automobile company.

Also, this nick name cannot be the source of the use of the term "willies" to refer to a state of fearful uneasiness because Tommies in the trenches would already have to be aware of that sense of the word in order to apply the term to the device in question.

[Perry Lassiter]

An etymology, real or folk, is the term Jeep came the the military us of GP, general purpose vehicle, called geep, ergo Jeep, perhaps to preserve the G sound as soft, rather than hard.

Around 1950, my father bought a WW2 maroon Jeep with strong, shiftable, four-wheel drive to use as a tractor for an acre garden at his camp. I got to drive it when not in use. I suspect it has endured partly because the four-wheel drive remains an option and also because of excellent diversification. In early 2000's I drove a Cherokee, which was an excellent car, but I changed to a Highlander for better mileage when gas went through the roof. I note they have continued to upgrade and multiply options.