Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Take a powder (AND News Flash!)

~~ NEWS FLASH!
This just in: A DYING NOTE is nominated for a "Lefty Award" in the Best Historical Mystery category (along with piles of other wonderful books). Winners will be announced at the Left Coast Crime mystery convention, in Vancouver, BC, late March. Click here for all Lefty nominations in all the categories.  END NEWS FLASH! ~~


 Now that the winter holidays are pretty much over, quite a few folks I know have decided to take a powder to warm spots south (Hawaii, Mexico!), icy/snowy climates north (Canada, Colorado, New York!) or other geographical vacation spots, all in the name of R&R. I can't say I blame them. In fact, I wish I could do the same.

However, since I am here and you are here (virtually speaking), let's take a closer look at take a powder. How did this phrase come to mean charging off at top speed?
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The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer suggests the following etymology:

This slangy idiom may be derived from the British dialect sense of powder as "a sudden hurry," a usage dating from about 1600. It may also allude to the explosive quality of gunpowder.

I'll admit that my first thought was that maybe it had to do with gunpowder, so I was please to see this pop up here. However, not so fast (so to speak!) because the Online Entymology Dictionary has this to say:

The phrase take a powder "scram, vanish," is from 1920; it was a common phrase as a doctor's instruction, so perhaps from the notion of taking a laxative medicine or a sleeping powder, with the result that one has to leave in a hurry (or, on another guess, from a magician's magical powder, which made things disappear).

 Whoa! I never thought of the laxative angle. Checking American Slang, 2nd Edition, by Robert L. Chapman/Barbara Ann Kipfer also mentions the magical powder connection, noting that this use of take a powder had appeared by 1688 (which pre-dates 1920 by quite a bit!).

So, whether you decide to take a powder or stay put, here's hoping the first month of the new year gives you some time for your own version of R&R, along with the inevitable return to  routine. 

"I think a quick trip to Hawaii might be nice right about now, don't you?
[Flucht eleganter Reiter vor dem Kampfgeschehen by Alexander von Bensa, Public domain]