Idiom of the week...

[wshaffer]

I was just googling around, trying to find out the derivation of the expression "heebie jeebies". I found this article, which notes that the expression is similar in meaning to the British expression, "the screaming habdabs".

I am now practically holding my breath, waiting for some suitable opportunity to drop "the screaming habdabs" into casual conversation.

Comments

[14cyclenotes.livejournal.com]

I've never heard a habdab scream. I think it's a myth.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I know, but "the gently burbling habdabs" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[(Anonymous)]

I use "the screaming habdabs" on occasion. Interestingly, the mice in Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy use the phrase "screaming heebie-jeebies"...

P

[paulgreaves.livejournal.com]

I use "the screaming habdabs" on occasion. Interestingly, the mice in Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (which is uniquely British) use the phrase "screaming heebie-jeebies"...

P

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hoping for that sort of opportunity will likely bring it about; careful.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I know, just the thought is enough to give me the screaming hab...oh, wait, that's too easy.

Vocabulary expansion: not for wimps.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

*makes note to use that idiom in a Doctor Who/Jeeves and Wooster crossover fic currently in progress*

*no Brewster is not kidding*

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I am glad you're not kidding - it seems to me that there *ought* to be DW/J&W crossover fic, though I'm not sure that I'm really Jeeves and Wooster literate enough to appreciate it.