A friend's father attempted to explain to me what "23 skidoo" means. In the beginning it seemed to be a shooing away word, sort of like skedaddle. But it eventually morphed into a cool thing to say when one was departing. Sort of the way people said in the 90s (and probably continue to say), "Let's bounce" or "let's jet". Various origins of the term are suspected; the one I like to believe comes from the Flatiron Building in New York:"The first building to become a romantic symbol of New York was the Flatiron Building... It was not only a building that appealed to high-art interests ... but this building also entered popular culture. It is at a triangular site where Broadway and Fifth Avenue—the two most important streets of New York—meet at Madison Square, and because of the juxtaposition of the streets and the park across the street, there was a wind-tunnel effect here. In the early twentieth century, men would hang out on the corner here on Twenty-third Street and watch the wind blowing women's dresses up so that they could catch a little bit of ankle. This entered into popular culture and there are hundreds of postcards and illustrations of women with their dresses blowing up in front of the Flatiron Building. And it supposedly is where the slang expression "23 skidoo" comes from because the police would come and give the voyeurs the 23 skidoo to tell them to get out of the area."
from: http://ci.columbia.edu/0240s/0242_2/0242_2_s5_text.html
After our "23 skidoo" conversation, I endeavored to elucidate my friend's father on how the word "word" has evolved into various forms and meanings such as "word up", or just "word" for "yes" or an agreement of sorts. awh, trade-sies.
