WIX, IF and Day Two

The IF (Illustration Friday) word this week is : hurry, but I find myself making haste…slowly. It being Wednesday I thought I’d see how to catch up with something other than get a move on, hurry up…shake a leg!

Mach’ hin, komm schon…beeile Dich! Make finished, come already…hurry yourself! Dépêche toi, vite, vite…allez! Hurry yourself, quick, quick…go! Jahela! in Zulu, Opskud! in Afrikaans, or  in Dutch schiet op…haast je! , shoot up… make haste!

Nice, but no spark yet. So what about shake a leg? Did that sweep in off the dance floor where we hear it now? I found something a bit more macabre:

During the American Civil War after a battle to sort the dead from the wounded a soldier learned to move or wave one of his arms or legs by himself to indicate to the stretcher-bearer that he was alive. After a time, the stretcher-bearers would first yell to the piles of bodies “shake a leg or arm” as they approached. After a time, the shortened “shake a leg” began to be used in any situation where one wanted to rouse someone to action. click here for more

Of course the Brits are having none of that: it was the order given to sailors to put a foot from their hammocks and get up. Check out more nautical terms and sayings from a document to be found at goatlocker.org Under Navy Jobs, Navy Terms.

I can’t decide what to believe, but I haven’t got all day! Which brings me to Day Two of the 15 Habits of Great Writers Challenge because great writers believe in themselves. Jeff Goins insists you need to believe deeply that you are a writer, so we (all 958 participants) are challenged today to marinate in the thought – then we get to wake up two hours earlier tomorrow morning and grill our tasty morsels with uninterrupted writing! Well, no one else in the house will be up with me at 5, but the dog may have to be let out…in a hurry!