The Billiken's Bluff

William Safire, the conservative pundit from the NY Times, chimes in with a bit of etymology in the Times Sunday Magazine. The section is titled On Language. In each weekly installment, Safire explores the origins of such sayings as- a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, or don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.



A few weeks back he tackled the do-rag.



The to-do about do can be seen in its use in slang nouns. Although to be in deep doo-doo (probably from the excremental euphemism ''doing one's duty'') has lost currency, the fashion world dominated by teenagers has embraced the do-rag.
I visited a high school in Virginia recently that had this sign on the door: ''Please remove bandannas, skullcaps and do-rags'' or any other clothing that violated the district's dress policy.

''For the uninitiated,'' writes Carrie Mason-Draffen in Newsday, ''do-rag is essentially a bandanna that African-American women or men like to don . . . eminently practical, eminently dress-down . . . but some young African-American men are masters at transforming the scarves, or some offshoots, into fashion statements.'' She notes that ''the symbol of World War II working women, Rosie the Riveter, was depicted in posters with her locks peeking out of a do-rag.''

Earliest use was in an April 1968 Times article from Saigon by Thomas Johnson quoting a marine recalling indigent blacks in San Francisco ''with slicked-down hair and 'do-rags.''' What's the metaphoric root? What does a do-rag do, other than upset school officials from France to Virginia? My speculation: a rag is a piece of cloth, often discarded or used for cleaning and dusting; garment-industry people often mock their business as the rag trade. The do comes from hairdo, with the do meaning ''style.'' Thus: a scrap of material worn atop the hairdo is a do-rag. If proved mistaken, I will wear one to the office for a week, accompanied by a paronomastic singer-lyricist who calls himself Rapunzel.


And this past Sunday, Safire probed even deeper into the roots of the do-rag phenomenon.

My recent definition of do-rag as ''a scrap of material worn atop a hairdo'' has been challenged. A dozen or so readers are certain it should be spelled dew-rag, derived from the headband worn to absorb the perspiration, similar to dew, on the brow of workers in the sun.

On the other hand, Anna Grimes Noser of Nashville holds that ''a do-rag is whatever is available to pull your hair out of your face so you can set about cleaning the house, garage, gutters or other messy tasks. To indirectly criticize and simultaneously empathize with someone, many Southerners will quip, 'Bless his heart.' Mr. Safire, bless your heart.''

Michael Parker of the Corcoran Library in Washington, writing ''as a black man growing up in the 50's and 60's,'' observes that ''a do-rag was usually worn by men who had their hair 'processed.' The do-rag kept the 'process' neat until it was time to step out. We usually made fun of men with do-rags. Today I keep my mouth shut!''
Other Lexicographic Irregulars lent support to my speculation about the hyphenated noun's origin. ''Originally, a do-rag protected one's conk (straightened hair) while one slept,'' noted Rebecca Maksel.

And at Washington's Gridiron Dinner a couple of weeks ago, as I stood amid a bunch of other moving shakers in white tie and tails, Colin Powell -- proud product, like me, of the Bronx -- agreed that do-rag did derive from ''doing'' one's hair. He even recalled that ''in the days before pantyhose,'' a variation of the do-rag was a stocking pulled down over the head. Ain't etymology grand?

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If the thought of William Safire calling his Boogie Down Bronx Brethren, Colin Powell, to ask him his thoughts about the origins of the do-rag doesn't bring a smile to your face, then The Billiken's Bluff is not the place for you.