![]() ![]() ![]() The French equivalent of Simon says is Jacques a dit, meaning James has said. Brisk holding up of fingers and turning down of thumbs, like the children’s game of “wiggle-waggle,” forward a mutual understanding between buyer and seller. When a choice is made the object is negotiated for largely by expressive pantomime. An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Sport, Travel and Recreation (New York & London) of April 1895 published Spring in Rome, in which Leila Gittings wrote the following about foreigners buying objects at the market held on Wednesdays in the vicinity of the Farnese Palace: Very capable in the art of playing “ Simon says up Simon says down Simon says wiggle-waggle.” Each has a large constituency, who “up, down, or wiggle-waggle,” as the particular wire is pulled, and in view of the approaching canvass they are “upping, downing, and wiggle-waggling” at a fearful rate.Īn article in The Oregon Weekly Statesman (Salem, Oregon) of 31 st May 1871 even used the command wiggle waggle to describe one man named Simon:Īpparently, the noun wiggle-waggle also denoted a different children’s game. For example, the following, from The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) of 3 rd June 1873, is about three candidates during an electoral campaign and the “ wires” they are “ pulling behind the curtain” all three, says the journalist, are Many subsequent 19 th-century occurrences confirm the above-mentioned commands as well as their sequence. His plots and counterplots with the Shunk dynasty and with the Porter influence in all of which he held his own, will form in such an event, an important page in the secret history of Pennsylvania politics. A man who could exemplify in his own person the tricks and quick turns of the youth’s game of “Simon says up, Simon says down, wiggle waggle,” and go through the motions so successfully, is not to be laid out so easy. A propos of Simon, the chief of the Winnebago branch of the democracy-politicians say that he is shelved at last, but I scarcely believe it. ![]() The bone of contention is who shall be United States Senator? There is a Whig majority of nine on joint ballot, and Simon Cameron’s term, as Senator, expiring, his place must be filled by somebody. The second-earliest mention of the term is from The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) of 6 th November 1848: Simon is a great talker sometimes he says “up,” sometimes he says “down,” and sometimes he says “wiggle waggle.” It is always cheapest to do as Simon says. The earliest instance that I have found is the following paragraph from the column of miscellanea, All Sorts of Paragraphs, in the Boston Morning Post (Boston, Massachusetts) of 25 th April 1842 (the game was already well known at that time, since it is implicitly referred to): The name Simon was probably chosen for alliterative effect ( Simon says). Of American-English origin, Simon says denotes a children’s game in which players must obey the leader’s instructions only if they are prefaced with the words Simon says it also denotes the command itself. ![]()
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