A look at lollygagging

There are certain words that consign you to a place in time, words that tend to date you as a human being. "Groovy" and "far out" summon up images of Woodstock, inverted "peace" crosses and the 1960s. These not-to-be lamented terms were gratuitously used in the 1989 baseball movie, "Field of Dreams." A couple of aging hippies buy a farm in Iowa and dead baseball players come out of the cornfield to play on a diamond constructed -- to consternation of his neighbors and his brother-in-law -- by Ray Kinsella, portrayed by Kevin Costner. Groovy. Far out.

This morning, on the day before Veterans Day, I'm thinking of a different word, an intransitive verb. It does not seem to have a definite origin; the term's provenance is mere guesswork. I saw the word online while reading about another woeful performance by my favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The sports writer accused one of Pittsburgh's defensive players of lollygagging. Lollygagging. Now there's a word deserving of being thrown on the etymological dustbin along with the dated whippersnapper.

Lollygagging sounds faintly British. The Brits love words that end in Y -- telly, bobby, lorry. Lolly seems to fit that tradition. Lolly, which means tongue, is the root word in lollipop, which makes sense.

Enough word parsing. Given that Veterans Day is near, we pay tribute to this holiday marking the World War I armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month by noting the presumed importance of the word lollygagging to the military.

According to one website, "Many American veterans will remember [lollygagging], since it is part of the standard repertoire of insults used by NCOs to verbally chastise new recruits -- in this case to accuse them of fooling around or wasting time. It first appeared in the U.S. about the middle of the 19th century [in a] a wonderful citation from an Iowan newspaper, the Northern Vindicator, in 1868." (source: worldwidewords.org)

Jesus of Nazareth spoke Aramaic. My guess is, however, that there must be a word in that ancient Semitic language spoken during the Second Temple period (539 B.C.-70 A.D.) that approximates the meaning of the English word lollygagging. Jesus almost certainly had occasion to use it with his closest friends, the original disciples.

When night fell on a large crowd that had come for the Master's healing touch, the disciples suggested that Jesus send the crowds home to get their own dinner. Jesus had a different idea: "They don't need to go away; give them something to eat." The disciples protested that they only had a five bread loaves and two fish -- surely not nearly enough to feed a multitude. You can almost sense the fatigue and frustration in Jesus' next words: "Bring them here to me." (Matthew 14:13-21) Lollygaggers.

Much later, in the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives -- on the last night of his earthly life, Jesus asked Peter, James and John, the inner circle of his disciples, to wait up with him while he prayed. Not only did they fall asleep on Jesus once -- the narrative tells us they drifted into slumber three times. "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! Rise! Let us go!" (Mark 14:32-42) Lollygaggers.

I rise in praise of our veterans, many of whom resisted sleep and who pressed ahead despite difficult odds, to do their duty -- and whose service and commitment we honor tomorrow. You know such men and women. Thank them and give them respect. There's not a lollygagger in the bunch.

Dr. Jeff Long is executive director of the Chateau Girardeau Foundation and a non-veteran. He serves as president of the Cape Girardeau Public Library board of trustees and is a retired United Methodist clergyman.