Talk:willies
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What about "scare the willies out of someone" Siuenti (talk) 20:09, 22 July 2012 (UTC)
derivation[edit]
Having just seen the ballet Giselle and thanks to Wikipedia found out that the wilie are slavic nymphs who dance men to death, I wonder if this has anything to do with "gives me the willies" i.e. makes one nervous. The ballet was first performed in 1841 but the other uses of the word in various countries seems much older. What's the chance it made it's way into English usage about the same time as the ballet? link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_fairies#Wili