Wordie: Shag: Comments

Comment by sionnach, about 1 month ago

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:05:38 +0000

I remember the first beach trip I made when I was in graduate school in NC. I had been in the U.S. only about a month, and went with a group from the Newman Center. Everyone in the van on the way down kept talking about all the shagging they would be doing all weekend.

I was quite discombobulated.

Comment by sionnach, about 1 month ago

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:59:56 +0000

A shag is not a cormorant and vice versa

See the 2-minute mark on the video.

(also, if you are interested, the last 3 minutes or so of the preceding segment, i.e. part 3b, where they discuss the Isherwood poem as well)

Comment by johnmperry, about 1 month ago

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:00:30 +0000

Was the film as long ago as 1989? Tempus indeed fugits. I remember it was a crap film, but popular for lines such as "I just want to shag all night". This was before Austin Powers and before the word entered US vernacular.

Comment by johnmperry, about 1 month ago

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:57:23 +0000

The common cormorant (or shag)
Lays eggs inside a paper bag,
You follow the idea, no doubt?
It's to keep the lightning out.

But what these unobservant birds
Have never thought of, is that herds
Of wandering bears might come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.
-- Christopher Isherwood

Comment by chained_bear, 6 months ago

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:30:15 +0000

In the cormorant sense... see otaries for a usage note.

Comment by Treeseed, 6 months ago

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:24:02 +0000

The shag is a form of swing dancing that evolved from the jitterbug and jump blues of the big band jazz era and originated along the strands between Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, during the 1940s. It is most often associated with beach music, a genre of rhythm and blues-based songs that lend themselves to this dance form. According to Bo Bryan, a noted shag historian and resident of Beaufort County, the term was coined at Carolina Beach, North Carolina. Today, the shag is a recognized dance in national and international dance competitions held across the United States.

In the dance the upper body and hips hardly move as the legs do convoluted kicks and fancy footwork. The man is the center of attention and the woman's steps are either mirror steps of the man's or a sort of marking time while he does spins and other gyrations.

The shag is the state dance of North Carolina and South Carolina, and is still popular amongst residents of both states.

The 1989 film Shag starring Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates, Annabeth Gish, and Page Hannah as four high school friends on their last road trip together before graduation, was filmed in Myrtle Beach and features the Carolina shag.

_Wikipedia

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:59:49 +0000

Eeeew! I remember that hairstyle! Yuck. And I remember shag pile. Thanks for the memories, guys. ;-)

Comment by slumry, about 1 year ago

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:48:55 +0000

In the 1970s or 80s it was a certain kind of haircut; one I never liked because it was too . . .shaggy. ;-)

Comment by SonofGroucho, about 1 year ago

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:37:57 +0000

Then, of course, there is shag pile (as in carpet).

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:09:38 +0000

No, no, I suppose you're right....It sounds more like a nature film that way. ;-)

Comment by seanahan, about 1 year ago

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:18:58 +0000

"Austin Powers, the spy who gave me a small cormorant from a European coast" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:58:17 +0000

A small crested cormorant of Europe and North Africa.