The small rural community was celebrating a major milestone in its history of existence. It began 150 years ago with the building of a church and store at the crossroads near the large stand of spruce trees. Descendants of some of the original pioneer families of the area, visitors from some of the nearby towns, relatives of current farmers coming from the big city, and local inhabitants gathered in the community hall to view historical displays and have a brunch. Everyone pitched in to help set up the tables and chairs for the meal. Most of the helpers were visiting with family and friends they had not seen for a while when someone shouted, “Quit lollygagging and get to work or we’ll never get this meal started.”
Lollygag means to fool around and waste time. The chairperson of the anniversary committee was perturbed about the lack of work being done as people were catching up with long lost friends and relatives, which was one of the most important parts of the celebration time, yet she accused the people of lollygagging.
Lollygag has sometimes been spelled lallygag. In 1856 The North Californian (a four-page weekly newspaper published in Union, California from December 1856 to July 1860) wrote, “Oh ye denizens of cooler climes, how we do envy you in these days. Oh, for a lodge on some vast iceberg, or a chance to lallygag amid piles of snow!”
However, for over 100 years (mid-1800s to mid-1990s) lollygag was usually referring to displays of affection. An Iowa newspaper in 1868 printed, “the lascivious lollygagging lumps of licentiousness who disgrace the common decencies of life by their love-sick fawnings at our public dances."
In 1946 Time magazine (volume 47, page 74) quoted a military order from Captain C.F. Behrens about lollygagging which was described as "the holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service], corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel.”
The 1949 edition of The Oxford English Dictionary lists, "Lollygagging was grandmother's word for love-making." Lollygag could imply necking, flirting, or romantic fooling around.
By the 1960s lollygag lost its racy connotations and suggested delaying work by wasting time.
There is a famous lollygag scene in the movie Bull Durham (1988) starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. Ron Shelton was an Oscar nominee in 1989 for best writing of a screenplay for Bull Durham. Team manager Skip (Trey Wilson) has little patience with his listless players after such poor play in the past games.
Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers.
Synonyms of lollygag can be linger, drag, poke, and dawdle.
Linger implies to move slowly. After he left the pub, he lingered downtown before hailing a cab and heading home.
Drag suggests to cause to move with leisureliness or difficulty. She was dragging behind the others on the way through the mall to the cinema.
Poke can mean to move or act sluggishly or aimlessly. The twins poked around the grocery store while their mother did the weekly shopping.
Dawdle means to spend time fruitlessly or lackadaisically. The foursome in front of us dawdled on most of the greens before moving on to the next tee box.
Sometimes on a very hot humid day, I lollygag inside the house looking for reasons not to tackle the rapidly growing weeds in the lawn and the garden. But it is legitimate lollygagging, in my reasoning.
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
