I got stood up for lunch by one of the Voodoonista this week [1]. Aside from having lots of time to sit at a cafe and assure people that someone was going to be joining me [2], it also gave me some time to think about where the phrase ‘to be stood up by someone’ came from, in the sense of a person failing to show up, for example, at a cafe near where I work.
Google has failed me in trying to find out where this phrase came from. Probably the mammoth Oxford English Dictionary explains how the phrase developed, but since I don’t have access to it, I’ve been left with pure and utter guesswork [3].
Currently I’m wondering if it comes from the idea of agreeing to meet someone somewhere like a street corner, and if you don’t show up you effectively ‘leave them standing there’, or ‘stand them up.’ My other vague theory is that perhaps if you fail to meet someone at a restaurant that has a bar attached, you ‘leave them standing at the bar,’ or again ‘stand them up.’
Of course, I’m probably wrong about this. Anyone else have any thoughts?
| 1. | Yeah, I’m looking at you, Stark Raving Duncan. |
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| 2. | You could tell they didn’t believe me, which was annoying because right up until it was painfully obvious to everyone, including me, that he wasn’t going to show, I was giving them evil looks for smirking whenever I said that he’d be along any minute. |
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| 3. | In language research areas, this is referred to as ‘bullshit’. |
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No comment on your conundrum, but I’m equally puzzled by “busted,” as in “he got busted.” Is this a play on words alluding to the ego deflation that accompanies being arrested? Is it a comment about that part of the body being photographed during the booking process?
Marisol Sans Souci said:
Okay, yes, this is another thing to keep me up at night!
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Murray @ Midnight