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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Where'd That Word Come From Wednesday!

Dancing and happy are synonymous for me!
Hiya, Friends!  Hey!  Do you ever have one of those days where the happy just burst outta ya, and you've gotta put on a tutu and twirl?  Well, that's the kind of day I'm havin' today.  I don't know if I'm so happy because I'm wearin' a tutu and twirling, or if I'm wearin' a tutu and twirling because I'm just so happy.  I DO know that I'm wearin' a tutu, and it's impossible not to be happy when you're wearin' a tutu.

Even saying 'tutu' makes me laugh.  What a funny word!

I wondered where it came from, 'tutu,' so I used my "Where'd That Word Come from Wednesday" to find out more about the word 'tutu.'

Well, I'll tell ya what, Friends. As it turns out, as fun as the word 'tutu' is to say, and as much as it's in the mainstream now, it started out as not a very nice word.  I'll tell ya why.

I'm smilin' 'cause I live in the Age of Spandex!
You know, ballet and ballerinas have been around for a long time. Longer than spandex and undies and spandex undies.  And back in the day, the rich people in a lace called France who went to the ballet got to watch the show from high above the stage.  So they just saw the dancer's costumes and would get to think 'how pretty!' and be thrilled by how graceful everybody was.  But the people with less money, who wanted to go to the ballet, but couldn't afford the nice seats above the stage would get the cheap seats, which were lower than stage level. 

Those people mighta gone to the ballet and bought tickets to see a ballet, but they got a whole other kinda show.

You remember what I said about ballet bein' around longer than spandex and undies and spandex undies.  Those people sitting down below the stage-level probably got giggling about seeing those poor ballerinas' hoo-has, and 'tutu' was their charming word for 'hoo-ha.'

Ouch.

My face is red for those poor dancers, Friends.  Can you imagine working so hard to be a graceful ballerina, and eating only celery and air, and very rarely, like on every other Christmas, a sip of tomato juice, and learning all the ballet moves and learning to make 'em look easy, and then to have the groundlings laughing because they could see your hoo-ha, which they called a tutu?

Almost kinda makes ya feel a little dirty, sayin' 'tutu' now, doesn't it?

Wiser and sadder, but I'm still happy today!
Well, ya can't unlearn something you've learned.  'Tutu' is part of the lexicon now, Friends, and it's a lot more innocent a word than it usedta be.  Wordologists call this amelioration.  The meaning of tutu has become ameliorated over the few hundred years since it first came into language.

You know why I'm especially happy today, then, Friends, while I'm wearin' my tutu and twirling and being happy?  Because I'm wearin' a diaper under my tutu.  That's right.  Being anti-potty-trainin' and pro-diaper-wearin' has its advantages, Friends.  If I'm ever dancin' on a stage, and there's groundlings in the cheap seats below stage level, they can look up all they want and try to see under my tutu-skirt.  They're not gonna get to giggle because they're seein' my bottom.  Nope.  They're gonna get an eyeful of Pampers Cruisers, and maybe a Muppet face on my hiney of my diaper.  But no hoo-ha to laugh about.  How about that?!

Wouldn't it be nice to un-know all of this, Friends?  Wouldn't it?  I think it sure would be.  But it is what it is.  I guess maybe we oughtta forget the word 'tutu's' slangy past.  Let it let its past go.  Give it a fresh start.  Otherwise, I'm not gonna be able to watch the Daniel Tiger episode "Tutu All the Time" without laughing hysterically out loud every time one of the characters says 'tutu.'  And I have already enough things I can be cynical about!

Wiser and sadder, Friends.  Anyway, I'll see ya tomorrow.  Right now, I've got some serious twirlin' to do.  Muah!

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