Talk:frail

Regarding citation edit summary: that's no more "independent" of universe reference than a sentence like "Lyra is friends with Pantalaimon" referring to Philip Pullman's novels. It's just the name of a character. Why is this hard to understand? Equinox ◑ 16:32, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

OK, you are right. --Daniel 08:26, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

Etymology

How is the verb for playing a banjo related to the sense "weak, infirm"? Equinox ◑ 21:41, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

This is going to be kind of a long-winded explanation, mostly because I'm going to cite some sources. The short version seems to be that we get the meaning of "weak" becoming a verb like "weaken," and then going from meaning something like "to be weakened" to "to make something weak." From there, it was applied to violent actions, and from that, we get the use of the term for playing a stringed instrument, especially a banjo. The frailing style of banjo playing uses a half-closed fist, and can look like the musician is punching the strings of the banjo. This seems to have lead to names for this style of playing, such as "the old skull and fist style," "knocking," "knock-down," "beating," "rapping," etc., according to (among other sources) Pete Seeger in his book "How to Play the 5-String Banjo." Now, just in case you think I'm making too much of a leap from "frail" to "beat," I would offer to you that Woody Guthrie wrote in his semi-autobiographical novel, "Bound for Glory," that, during a fist-fight over an election in Oklahoma, someone shouted, "I'll frail your knob!" suggesting that he would attack the head of his opponent. I hope this helps.Messor (talk) 00:10, 19 October 2019 (UTC)

Alternate Definition

Having just made my comment in the section above, it occurs to me that, perhaps, given the fact that I've gone so far as to cite a source for a definition of the word "frail" that is not yet attested in this article, perhaps that definition should be added to the article. Messor (talk) 00:15, 19 October 2019 (UTC)

Frail was also slang for 'a woman'....

"Frail" was also a slang expression meaning 'a woman,' similar to moll for a gangster's girlfriend, used in the 1920s/30s. The most famous use in this context is in Cab Calloway's song Minnie the Moocher, but it is also found in E. E. "Doc" Smith's 1960 Sci Fi novel The Vortex Blaster. Please help get it added here. Cheers! Shir-El too (talk) 18:04, 3 January 2021 (UTC)