hollaback girl

The term "Hollaback Girl" has an obscure yet thoroughly documented etymology. In the mid-1920s, P. Quincy Hollaback was a well-to-do gadabout in East Rutherford, N.J. Quincy was was a standard fixture at speakeasies, burlesque shows, cock fights, bull fights, gimp races, and dwarf tosses all over the tri-state area. (He was legendary in his refusal to attend paraplegic wrestling.) And while he often drank to excess and carried on a tad bit, his five female companions were always properly composed and ever so chaste. These "Hollaback Girls," as they came to be known, could often be seen carting Quincy off in a wheelbarrow, or strapping his ankles to a passing buggy to be dragged away for a good night's rest. When he'd pee himself, they blotted his trousers with dignity and aplomb. A "Hollaback Girl" thus came to describe a woman of high virtue. However, the meaning took an ironic turn in the early 1970's when Elton John, out one night being a "naughty Johnny," began referring to himself as a Hollaback girl. According to Sol Belzer (my leasing agent, whom I can recommend heartily), the term has since come to mean "a girl who will bend over for just about anyone or anything, particularly if it involves the pooper." Sol saved me $$$ in '05.