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Re: "Book" "Booked" & "Booken"

Posted by Steve E on August 02, 2005

In Reply to: Re: "Book" "Booked" & "Booken" posted by ESC on August 02, 2005

: : : : : : My question is about the regional origins and use of the word "Book" "Booked" & "Booken" as in "He was really booken." meaning he was running with all his might.
: : : : : : Or, "They Booked" meaning you missed them they have left the area.
: : : : : : I grew up in a red-neck town in the U.S.A., mid-atlantic coast. This expression
: : : : : : was used often by school mates all through elementary scholl up to high school (circa 1968-1980) My question is, is this usage found in other English speaking country's like the U.K. ???

: : : : :
: : : : : I grew up in London and I have never heard "booken", nor "booked" used in the sense you describe.

: : : : See link below to previous discussion we had here.

: : : I went back to the archives and read what I posted. It doesn't make much sense.

: : : A couple of references associate "book it" meaning to move fast with "book it" meaning to study or "hit the books." ("Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner" by Geneva Smitherman, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1994; and "Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G" by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994.) Random House says "book it" is influenced by "boogie." Both sources say the phrase dates back to the 1970s. That's when I first heard it.

: : : I am not clear on how that would have evolved - from studying to moving fast.

: : : http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messages/820.html

: : I haven't heard "book" used that way. Might it come from running fast enough to get into the record books? Just guessing.

: I have. What I'm wondering is if it could be a trucker word. The way I've earned it used is when a person is getting ready to leave a place and travel in a car or truck. Bookin' on down the road. Or: he was really bookin' it. (Going fast.)

I am familiar with the phrase to mean that a criminal or fugitive took off to an unknown destination to elude his pursuers. In police terms: "We went to his house to arrest him, but he booked." Don't know where/how it originated, though.