My pal, Patrick

[Son of Clyde]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Patrick , RWD member and all around nice guy was just inducted into the Carolina Shag, Hall of Fame, last night in Virginia Beach.

Patrick was one of the founding members of the Northern Virginia Shag Club.

Congratulations pal.

[Gator]

I recall the shag from the 60s.  Yes, my fraternity brothers who never left Carolina still dance that way (and some still dress the same).

[ScottinCrimea]

Shoot, I read the word shag and thought of its definition in British slang.  Glas Gator striaghtened me out.  But whichever it is, congratulations!

[KenC]

Shoot, I read the word shag and thought of its definition in British slang.  Glas Gator striaghtened me out.  But whichever it is, congratulations!

Scott,
Glad I am not the only one with such thoughts.

SOC,
Maybe an explanation is in order for us uninformed?
KenC

[dneid]

Well, I too, fell into the same translation of the shag club.  I was wondering while I read it if the poor soul would mind the fact that this forum was a venue to announce the loss of his virginity!!
Nice it was not just me.  I would love to know more about just what the heck this is.  Gator, maybe you (being the eloquent one) could enlighten us poor shag less souls?

[Son of Clyde]

http://www.vbshagclub.com/

[myrddin]

OK, I guessed it wasn't the Austin Powers meaning, but I was searching my brain for other possibilities....  Did anyone besides Gator read this and instantly know it was a dance?   

BTW, congrats Patrick!

[Turboguy]

That is great news SOC.   I have a feeling more guys who did not know what you were talking about would be jealous of him than those who do.  (I am with Gator in that group.)    Would it have been any better if you said you liked to do the swing?

[BC]

Shoot, I read the word shag and thought of its definition in British slang.  Glas Gator striaghtened me out.  But whichever it is, congratulations!

Wouldn't that be 'Do the Boink?'

 

[KenC]

OK, I guessed it wasn't the Austin Powers meaning, but I was searching my brain for other possibilities....  Did anyone besides Gator read this and instantly know it was a dance?   

BTW, congrats Patrick!

I knew it was some sort of dance, but have no real understanding beyond that.  My personal memories only go back to Chubby Checker and the Twist!

Let's ask someone older, er, wiser to explain.  Gator?  Ray?
 
KenC

[Gator]

Gator, maybe you ... could enlighten us poor shag less souls?

Quoting from World Wide Words (http://www.worldwidewords.org)

It’s thought by some to derive from an older sense of the verb that meant to shake about. We don’t know where that came from, either, though it’s probably connected to shake. This meaning fits the later one very well and it’s similar to the way that frig evolved (incidentally, a word whose constituency is pretty much the inverse of shag, being much better known in America than in Britain): at first this meant to move back and forth and then later evolved senses like to copulate and to masturbate.

There are several other meanings of the word, including one which has the same origin as shaggy, used for a type of tobacco, for a sort of cloth or carpet (as in shag-pile), and as one name for various species of cormorant, which have a shaggy crest. Americans know it as a dance, the origin of whose name is disputed; they may also use it to mean to move quickly, to chase or pursue, or to retrieve something, as in baseball.

I grew up in the South and we were confused in the 1960s about many things from having been culturally isolated for generations, .  The most notable is something I am hesitant to admit because it makes us seem so dumb.  Nevertheless, here is my public confession:  In a geograhic area ranging at least  from the piedmont of Virginia to eastern Alabama, the female vagina was referred to as "cock."   

Embarrassing, especially considering its use as slang for "penis" is known since 1618.  With the modern era, we quickly realized our mistake   The last I heard it used that way was in 1973 in northern Georgia (where Deliverance was filmed).  I was deep off the beaten path searching for a remote site for a special industrial project.  My guide told me, "When I was a kid I got a lot of strange cock in these woods."

There is no etymology explaining such confusion.  So we easily could have confused shag as well.  Perhaps we considered it as foreplay before we could enjoy a real shag.

Be kind!  And KenC you are not exactly a light year behind me whether you admit it or not.

[SANDRO43]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_shag 

[Patrick]

Thanks Clyde.
    Yes it is a dance. It is a form of Swing Dance. Gator is correct as always. I was lucky enough at a young age for my Mother to teach me the dance . It is just something that I have stuck with. Thanks everyone for the congrats. I want to thank my pal Clyde and his beautiful wife Iryna for being there with Maryna and I for the weekend. A grand time was had by all. Yes Clyde can dance as well. That is how we met many years ago.
  Thanks Again. Patrick