Wu Ting
How would you interpret ‘oolie droolie’ here? At the end of term the Teachers College will close. Your language will cease to be maligned by the Carolina tongue. Its only advocate in Asheville will happily stay home in his vine-covered cottage, as his former pupils turn to parachute-packing and the like. These girls are so much like Mother, with their gum-cracking confidence and feral vocabularies. Holy Joe! Oh nausea! He’s oolie droolie! But Mother would be old by now, nearly fifty. How she would wail over that, if she were still here. Probably it’s a charity that she is not. How would you interpret ‘oolie droolie’ in the context? Thanks! And it’s taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.
Dec 7, 2014 12:17 AM
Answers · 3
1
My guess would be that it's an approving comment about a boy, along the lines of 'He's cute' . If a boy is 'oolie droolie' he's someone that all the girls 'drool' over. A dictionary of 1940s slang I came across lists this as an exclamation of the era, but doesn't give any more information. By the way, going back to your previous question about 'gum-cracking' : I'd say that it's a compact way of saying that the girls crack gum (make a loud snapping noise with their chewing gum) in a brash and confident manner.
December 7, 2014
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!