Why it's slang

Posted by Anders on November 11, 2003

In Reply to: Put down - quit posted by ESC on November 11, 2003

: : Towards the end of a concert, bluesman Albert King assures his audience that they've been "mighty, mighty groovy people," and that he wished he "could take everybody from San Francisco with [him]." Having thus made explicit the bond between him and the audience, he says, to the audience's audible dismay, "It'll be October before I can get back." And then this: "I'm gonna plunge you now and dig you later, gator. Ain't gonna quit you, just gonna put you down for a while." At this, the audience are suddenly rather quite, so Albert shouts: "Can you dig it?" The last sentence, of course, is to ensure they understand. (They say "Yeah!") I'm wondering how well established is the expression, "put you down for a (little) while." It is found also in Led Zeppelin:
: : I can't quit you / babe / Woman I think I'm gonna put you down / for a little while.
: : ("I can't quit you baby," cf. albums I and Coda)
: : Regards
: : Anders
: : PS: The Albert King album is "Thursday Night In San Francisco" (recorded in 1968).

: "put down" has two meanings, according to one reference. 1. To criticize. 2. To stop doing something, as in "I'm trying to put down smoking dope." "Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang" by Tom Dalzell (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Md., 1996).

: The image I get is a child putting down a toy, taking a break and coming back to play again later.

Hi ESC
Thanks for your comment. I think it might be a blues/jive idiom, i.e. "putting down" being linked to "quitting," or rather, not quitting. If so - or if we can at least agree that this is slang, the reason for its being slang lies in the deliberate confusion between the meanings of "putting down."
It would make sense to have this conversation:
A: I saw you reading the Complete Works of William Shakespeare earlier today, but now you're playing tennis. So, have you quit reading Shakespeare?
B: Nah, I ain't quittin'. I just put it down for a while.

(That is, put down the book.) I'd be very interested to learn if you think the expression is consciously playing with confusing putting down somebody and putting down something. Even though you can put down a person, for instance a baby, which is free from any negative connotations, one tends to expect that there's a critique implied when you put down somebody. Or not?

Best
Anders

• Why it's slang R. Berg 11/November/03