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Going Jessy

Posted by ESC on November 14, 2010 at 03:25

In Reply to: Going Jessy posted by Dave Fratcher on November 13, 2010 at 21:43:

: "going Jessy"

: I and my family have used this phrase a lot. I had someone ask if I came from back east(which I do) because they had only heard it in the eastern US. I use it to mean a fast moving or growing person or concern."

: Examples: This town was a going jessy back in those days. Or Wow, isn't he a going jessy. saying that the person is hyper or driven. I have googled the phrase and there are only 1-2 places that it is used but as I've said it is commonly used in my family.

jesse, jessie, jessy has several entries in DARE. Entry 2 fits the phrase you described. 1. punishment or scolding. 1839. 2. go jesse or going jesse. Energetic or skillful. Going great guns. Around 1950, western Kentucky, northwest Tennessee. 3. give it a jesse. Doing a job halfway. As my mother used to say, giving it a lick and a promise (to do more later). 4. A varmint, critter or disagreeable person. "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume III by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1996, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Page 123.

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