Fem bellis

När jag åkte hem från ön förra sommaren, så skickade Anna, min granne, med mig en påse med bellis som hon grävt upp ur sin gräsmatta. Och i dag upptäckte jag fem bellis i min gräsmatta. 

Förutom att Daisy är ett namn (som även drabbat mig några gånger, när jag vägrat att svara på Margie), så kom jag att tänka på att det finns en hel del uttryck med daisy, som "fresh as a daisy" och "pushing up daisies" — men varför säger man oopsie daisy, för att inte tala om  lack-a-daisy‽

 Bother these loose stones! Oh lack-a-daisy me!

The Phrase Finder förklarar:

Lackadaisical may now be a single word but, in its original form, it derived from a phrase, albeit by a circuitous route. The phrase in question is 'alack a day' or 'alack the day'. It was used first by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, 1592, on Romeo's mistaken belief that Juliet had died:

Shee's dead, deceast, shee's dead: alacke the day!    

Alack itself can be broken down into the exclamation 'Ah' and 'lack', which then meant failure or shame. Alack-a-day was a recognition of woe or regret at some unfortunate occurrence. 

'Alack-a-day' migrated into 'lack-a-day', by a process known as aphesis. This is defined by the OED as - the gradual and unintentional loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word; as in squire for esquire.

It was used by John Eachard in The Grounds & Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion Enquired, 1685. At that date the 'lack' spelling wasn't yet fully accepted and this citation proceeded the phrases by a hyphen, indicating the missing 'A'. 

'Lack a day. how easie a matter is it for old folks to dote and slaver, and for young ones to. be deceived.

Having been shortened 'lack-a-day' now became extended to become the rather fanciful 'lack-a-daisy'. This ornamentation may have been influenced by the existence of the term 'ups-a-daisy', a version of which was in use by 1711.  

Läs hela förklaringen här, och om oopsie daisy kan du läsa hos "Urban Dictionary".

I jakten på dessa uttryck stötte jag på en sång som jag aldrig hört talas om tidigare. En sång från 1939 skriven av Edith Mabel Mills.

 

Och så här går det till att dansa till sången:

The Position

Begin facing partners, Lead's back to center.

The Dance

Part I - Hands, Knees, Boomps-A-Daisy: Clap both hands with partner (1), then slap own knees (2), bump inside hips (3), then bow to each other, as if to say "excuse me" (4). While doing all this, shout "Hands" (1), "Knees" (2), "Boomps" (3), "A" (and), "Daisy" (4).

Part II - Swing and Rollaway: Step side along LOD and swing inside foot through along LOD (5), step side against LOD, swing outside foot through against LOD (6), then rollaway along LOD with a rotary waltz (7, 8).

Part III - Hands, Knees, Boomps-A-Daisy: Same as Part I (1, 2, 3, 4).

Part IV - Waltz: Take partner in arms and waltz for four bars (5, 6, 7, 8).

Repeat from the beginning.