This column as good as all get-out

A couple of co-workers provided a phrase each for me to research this week. Standard layout artist Seth Wright wondered aloud recently where the phrase ‘as all get-out’ came from, while reporter and fellow columnist Duane Sherrill questioned why people talk about ‘going Dutch.’
Seth’s example is used so commonly one doesn’t really think of it as a separate phrase as such, but more as an emphatic adjective, as in, ‘She was mad as all get-out’ or ‘That guy is crazy as all get-out.’
Also, some references hyphenate the words ‘get-out,’ while others treat it as one word. I’m going to hyphenate them for this column mainly because it passes spellcheck that way and I don’t have to click skip.
The Oxford English Dictionary, which is famous for including even the most obscure phrases and slang terms in its pages, includes this entry:
‘ ‘Phr. as or like (all) get-out, used to indicate a high degree of something.’
The ‘all’ is in parenthesis because up until 1869 or so the phrase ‘as getout’ was used like the phrase ‘as all get-out’ is now. According to my research the first appearance of ‘all’ was, per the OED, in Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ in 1884. But as to the origin, the venerable word book is little help.
One interesting aspect of this particular phrase is the similar epithet ‘Get out of here!’ or just ‘Get out!’ often used to express astonishment. Perhaps this has something to do with it, but, for the life of me, I can’t see how the phrases are related.
I hate to admit it, but despite my efforts so far, I haven’t found a logical explanation or origin for this phrase. Though many phrases make some sense when you think about them, this one doesn’t for me.
I’m afraid all I can say here is I’m confused as all get-out about this one.
All right, on to ‘going Dutch.’ Now, as most everyone knows, this means that each person eating at a restaurant or paying admission for entertainment pays for himself or herself, rather than one person paying for everyone. It is also referred to as ‘Dutch date’ or ‘Dutch treat.’
Now, there is a certain amount of etiquette involved with this custom. It is generally accepted in some situations, such as between non-intimate acquaintances, but is considered a bit miserly and rude in other circumstances, like a romantic date or business lunch. The traditional manner of handling a bill in the West is that the individual who invited the other to the meal takes the bill.
As for the etymology of the phrase, it seems to have developed from the commercial rivalry between the Dutch and the English, particularly during the Anglo-Dutch wars. At that time, several phrases with somewhat negative connotations came to be used by the English. The phrases were designed to produce stereotypes of the Dutch and their habits.
Some examples include ‘Dutch courage,’ ‘Dutch uncle,’ and ‘Dutch wife.’ The stereotype associated with these phrases is the portrayal of the Dutch as selfish and ungenerous.
Oddly enough, at one point during the so-called ‘second wave feminism’ in the late 1960s and 1970s many women embraced the idea of equalizing the traditional courtship roles, claiming the sexes should be equal not just legally, but socially and sexually as well, and some women began to insist on paying their own way on dates, and ‘going Dutch’ began to take on a whole new meaning. In some cases the women even began to offer to pay for their escort’s meals, a real gender-role reversal.
Of course this brings up another word altogether. Anybody ever heard the term ‘gigolo.’
Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.