Question-a-go-go
January 11, 2004 12:30 PM Subscribe
What does the suffix "a' go-go" mean? You see it everywhere, attached to all sorts of things.
Searching for the meaning is difficult, because google just spits back all kinds of Whatever-a-go-go page titles. I think it's from around the sixties, maybe as a kind of nonsense addition, like "Atomic" or other expressions of the time. But I can't seem to find any real origin or meaning.
Searching for the meaning is difficult, because google just spits back all kinds of Whatever-a-go-go page titles. I think it's from around the sixties, maybe as a kind of nonsense addition, like "Atomic" or other expressions of the time. But I can't seem to find any real origin or meaning.
Response by poster: Thanks Aaorn. I had searched dictionary.com, but didn't hyphenate. D'oh.
posted by tirade at 12:42 PM on January 11, 2004
posted by tirade at 12:42 PM on January 11, 2004
I have no backup for this, but I always thought it was a term from the 60s that referred to go-go bars. hip and happening. the "a" I always thought was a nod to the French--as in à la carte--sort of "in the style of".
posted by jpoulos at 12:47 PM on January 11, 2004
posted by jpoulos at 12:47 PM on January 11, 2004
I always thought it was a term from the 60s that referred to go-go bars
And so it is; it comes from the Whiskey A Go-Go, America's first disco, which opened on the Sunset Strip in LA in January 1964. The name was taken from a similar French joint, where the name meant "as much whiskey as you want" or "whiskey to your heart's content" (à gogo means 'plenty of'), but in America it was just a catchy phrase, and "go-go" came to mean 'the kind of music/girls/scene you find at the Whisky.'
posted by languagehat at 7:10 PM on January 11, 2004
And so it is; it comes from the Whiskey A Go-Go, America's first disco, which opened on the Sunset Strip in LA in January 1964. The name was taken from a similar French joint, where the name meant "as much whiskey as you want" or "whiskey to your heart's content" (à gogo means 'plenty of'), but in America it was just a catchy phrase, and "go-go" came to mean 'the kind of music/girls/scene you find at the Whisky.'
posted by languagehat at 7:10 PM on January 11, 2004
Merriam Webster via OneLook Dictionary
Main Entry: 1a-go-go
Pronunciation: ä-'gO-(")gO, &-
Function: noun
Etymology: Whisky à Gogo, café and discotheque in Paris, France, from French à gogo galore, from Middle French
Date: 1965
: a nightclub for dancing to pop music :
Main Entry: 2a-go-go
Function: adjective
Date: 1965
1 : GO-GO 1
2 : being in a whirl of motion
3 : being up-to-date -- often used postpositively
Whiskey A Go Go - Owners recall glory days of famous club (a good rock history read!) and the whiskey a go go.
on preview, languagehat is right on it!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:17 PM on January 11, 2004
Main Entry: 1a-go-go
Pronunciation: ä-'gO-(")gO, &-
Function: noun
Etymology: Whisky à Gogo, café and discotheque in Paris, France, from French à gogo galore, from Middle French
Date: 1965
: a nightclub for dancing to pop music :
Main Entry: 2a-go-go
Function: adjective
Date: 1965
1 : GO-GO 1
2 : being in a whirl of motion
3 : being up-to-date -- often used postpositively
Whiskey A Go Go - Owners recall glory days of famous club (a good rock history read!) and the whiskey a go go.
on preview, languagehat is right on it!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:17 PM on January 11, 2004
Gosh, gosh--I am agog gog at some of the questions here.
posted by y2karl at 10:42 PM on January 11, 2004
posted by y2karl at 10:42 PM on January 11, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by amberglow at 12:36 PM on January 11, 2004