shoo-fly interj.

admonition to a pest, by 1866 (in political journalism), from shoo (v.) + fly (n.). Popularized by a Dan Bryant minstrel song ("Shoo fly — don't bother me") that appeared in print by 1868 and was enormously popular from the next year, which launched it as a catch-phrase that, according to H.L. Mencken, "afflicted the American people for at least two years" and made an appearance in the Congressional Record.

[A]n epidemic called the "Shoo fly," that has raged in New York and other eastern cities for some time, has at length broken out there [Cincinnati] with great intensity. Young and old have got it. Babies lisp it, and old men are heard to pipe it forth. The child, when threatened with chastisement by its mother, modifies the parental wrath, and sometimes escapes the impending rod by waving its infantile hand and singing out:"Shoo-fly, don't bodder me!"

[Knoxville, Tenn., Daily Press and Herald, Jan. 28, 1870]

The phrase also was used in various technical senses. The Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy shoo-fly pie is attested by 1908 in a recipe in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Its name is generally taken to be an allusion to the fact that it is so attractive to flies that they have to be constantly shooed away from it, but the fact that it originated as a Pennsylvania-Dutch specialty suggests the possibility that shoofly is an alteration of an unidentified German word. [Ayto, "Diner's Dictionary"]

Beam's "Pennsylvania German Dictionary" [Lancaster, 1985] gives der Melassichriwwelboi as the translation of "shoofly pie."

词汇	shoo-fly
词源	shoo-fly interj. admonition to a pest, by 1866 (in political journalism), from shoo (v.) + fly (n.). Popularized by a Dan Bryant minstrel song ("Shoo fly — don't bother me") that appeared in print by 1868 and was enormously popular from the next year, which launched it as a catch-phrase that, according to H.L. Mencken, "afflicted the American people for at least two years" and made an appearance in the Congressional Record. [A]n epidemic called the "Shoo fly," that has raged in New York and other eastern cities for some time, has at length broken out there [Cincinnati] with great intensity. Young and old have got it. Babies lisp it, and old men are heard to pipe it forth. The child, when threatened with chastisement by its mother, modifies the parental wrath, and sometimes escapes the impending rod by waving its infantile hand and singing out:"Shoo-fly, don't bodder me!" [Knoxville, Tenn., Daily Press and Herald, Jan. 28, 1870] The phrase also was used in various technical senses. The Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy shoo-fly pie is attested by 1908 in a recipe in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Its name is generally taken to be an allusion to the fact that it is so attractive to flies that they have to be constantly shooed away from it, but the fact that it originated as a Pennsylvania-Dutch specialty suggests the possibility that shoofly is an alteration of an unidentified German word. [Ayto, "Diner's Dictionary"] Beam's "Pennsylvania German Dictionary" [Lancaster, 1985] gives der Melassichriwwelboi as the translation of "shoofly pie." Entries linking to shoo-fly shoo v. 1620s, "to drive away (birds or other creatures) by calling 'shoo,' " from the exclamation "shoo!" (late 15c., shou), used to drive away hens. Perhaps it is instinctive or particularly effective: compare French chou, German schu, Greek sou, Italian sciò. Related: Shooed; shooing. fly n. Old English fleoge "a fly, winged insect," from Proto-Germanic fleugon "flying insect" (source also of Old Saxon fleiga, Old Norse fluga, Middle Dutch vlieghe, Dutch vlieg, Old High German flioga, German Fliege "fly"); literally "the flying (insect)" (compare Old English fleogende "flying"), from PIE root pleu- "to flow," which is also the source of fly (v.1). Originally any winged insect (moths, gnats, beetles, locusts, hence butterfly, etc.) and long used by farmers and gardeners for any insect parasite. Flies figuratively for "large numbers" of anything is from 1590s. Plural flien (as in oxen, etc.) gradually normalized 13c.-15c. to -s. Fly in the ointment is from Eccles. x:1. Fly on the wall "unseen observer" first recorded 1881. No flies on _____ "no lack of activity or alertness on the part of," is attested by 1866. Meaning "fish-hook dressed to resemble an insect" is from 1580s; Fly-fishing is from 1650s. Fly-catcher "bird which eats insects on the wing" is from 1670s. The fly agaric mushroom (1788) so called because it was used as a poison for flies. The sense of "a flight, flying" is from mid-15c. From the verb and the notion of "flapping as a wing does" comes the noun sense of "tent flap" (1810), which was extended to "strip of material sewn into a garment as a covering for buttons" or some other purpose (1844). Baseball fly ball attested by 1866. To do something on the fly is 1856, apparently from baseball. When the catcher sees several fielders running to catch a ball, he should name the one he thinks surest to take it, when the others should not strive to catch the ball on the fly, but only, in case of its being missed, take it on the bound. ["The American Boys Book of Sports and Games," New York, 1864] updated on September 03, 2022
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shoo-fly interj.

Entries linking to shoo-fly