Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

“Make way, make way, for the rowdy-dowdy boys”.’

English answer:

clear the way for the rowdy-dowdy (boisterous, fun-loving) boys

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2019-08-01 13:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Jul 29, 2019 13:26
4 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term

“Make way, make way, for the rowdy-dowdy boys”.’

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Songs
The text about Queen Victoria has a reference to the band playing the song “Make way, make way, for the rowdy-dowdy boys”.’
Abstract:
‘Yes: a fat little lady in black riding through the Park with an escort of Lifeguardsmen – her open barouche drawn by two splendid high-stepping grey horses, and the band playing: “Make way, make way, for the rowdy-dowdy boys”.’
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Barbara Carrara

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Discussion

Charles Davis Jul 29, 2019:
But the point in this context is the humorous contrast: the old queen, symbol of the ultimate in British respectability and power, who would have had no idea that the band were playing something so risqué, and her life guards, stiff, impeccably turned out and disciplined: the antithesis of "rowdy-dowdy boys". Maybe it was a deliberate joke on the band leader's part, maybe it was simply a concession to popular taste (like playing the latest no. 1 in the charts), but it is a very funny image.
Charles Davis Jul 29, 2019:
This was a popular song, dating from the 1890s and sung in the music halls, a kind of early variety theatre very popular with working-class Victorians. It was sung by Millie Hilton, dressed as a man:
https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=63506&sos=0

"Rowdy-dowdy" was originally criminal slang. Green's Dictionary of Slang gives it as "aggressive, antagonistic" (from 1846) and "vulgar, uncultured, rough" (from 1915).
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/qjypm4q

Eric Partridge, the guru of British slang, tells us that it originally referred to pickpockets:

"Rowdy-dowdy means a rough turning and twisting of the mark (the pickpocket's victim) by the pickpocket and/or his confederate(s)"
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MUbeCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA580

So in origin it suggests something quite menacing: hooliganism and street crime. But as used in the song, it's about drinking and having a good time. It's a kind of "street chic", naughty boys pretending to be really bad boys, typical of the exuberance of the end of the century.

(Continued in next post)

Responses

+3
5 mins
Selected

clear the way for the rowdy-dowdy (boisterous, fun-loving) boys

it's a song
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/songster/40-the-rowdy-dowd...

"We are the boys for fun and noise"

rowdy means boisterous

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Note added at 10 mins (2019-07-29 13:36:22 GMT)
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rowdy can also mean causing mayhem or trouble

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rowdydowdy


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Note added at 3 days 33 mins (2019-08-01 13:59:29 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helped!

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Note added at 3 days 35 mins (2019-08-01 14:01:59 GMT) Post-grading
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note that "dowdy" is there to rhyme with "rowdy" (but doesn't have its usual meaning of drab, dull or outmoded)
Peer comment(s):

agree Barbara Carrara
38 mins
Many thanks:-)
agree JohnMcDove
49 mins
Many thanks:-)
agree Tina Vonhof (X) : No need to translate it.
1 hr
Many thanks:-)
Something went wrong...
2 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks a lot, at first I found it hard to find the original song."

Reference comments

43 mins
Reference:

Ref. links

Hi, Anna

If you've searched this online, I'm sure you've noticed that the song comes up in Russian fora, such as the following,

pushkinskijdom.ru/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=d2XR7nsN49A%3D&tabid=11370

https://classic.italki.com/question/478148

https://sw-translations.ucoz.ru/forum/4-506-1

Hopefully, they can help you clear out your doubts.
From your question, it is unclear what you are looking for, given that you already know this is a music reference (there's a band playing a motive). Right?
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree JohnMcDove
12 mins
Thanks
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
52 mins
Thanks, Tina.
Something went wrong...
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