VAMOOSE

[Dr. Goodword]

• vamoose •

Pronunciation: væ-mus • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: (Regional slang) To leave, take off, bug out, hit the road, beat it, push off, skidoo, split, take a powder (from our Historical Dictionary of American Slang).

Notes: Today's Good Word is pure slang originating in the US Southwest and was very popular in US Westerns (cowboy movies) of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. It was another word in the vocabulary of an old favorite of mine in the Westerns of the 40s, Gabby Hayes, whom we have already cited for his use of cahoots "plotting with". Since it was borrowed from Mexican Spanish and materially corrupted, it remains a lexical orphan with no other English words related to it.

In Play: If you want to talk like a movie cowboy, you might say something like this to your kids: "Let's vamoose, little buckaroos, and see if we can't rustle up some grub." (Translation: "Let's go, kids, and see if we can't find some food.") You wouldn't want to use this word at a job interview, but in a situation where a little Western flavor would not be out of place, you might say, "As soon as the line dancing was over, everyone vamoosed as though they were all in cahoots."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a serious mispronunciation of Spanish vamos "let's go". Spanish inherited the word from Latin vadamus "were we to go", a form of vadere "to go". It is the same verb used in Henryk Sienkiewicz's famous historical novel (1895) Quo Vadis (Where are you going), a love story set in Rome during the reign of Nero. The Proto-Indo-European base wadh- "to go" entered Old English as wadan "to go" and came down to us as wade. The meaning of this word is not far removed from a Latin derivation of vadere, vadum "a ford". (We should not vamoose before thanking Barbara Kelly for bringing this funny English borrowing from our neighbors to the south.)

[Slava]

Oddly enough, even after reading this write up, I can't let go of the feeling that vamoose means "scram!"

I would say to a fly, "Vamoose (off with you!)," but I can't see saying to a group of people, "Vamoose (let's be off).

Does anyone else out there feel the same? Or not?

[Perry]

the definition included "beat it", so yes I am with you on "scram".

[Slava]

the definition included "beat it", so yes I am with you on "scram".

Yet the 'beat it" in the definition is "Let's us beat it," not "Hey, you, beat it!"

[Audiendus]

I think we need to be clear about the grammar here. The Spanish vamos is a 1st-person-plural imperative, meaning "let's go". The English vamoose is not; it can be a 2nd-person imperative ("beat it!") or an infinitive as in the following:

"Let's vamoose, little buckaroos, and see if we can't rustle up some grub."

So:
Vamoose! = Beat it!
Let's vamoose! = Let's beat it!

It can also be used in the indicative mood - they vamoose, I vamoosed, etc.

[misterdoe]

I think we need to be clear about the grammar here. The Spanish vamos is a 1st-person-plural imperative, meaning "let's go".

Actually, vamos more correctly translates to "we go," an indication rather than a command, though it's most often used as a command today. The version I was taught in middle school Spanish for the command -- 34 years ago -- is vámonos, literally "go-us." Fairly recently, though, I've read that Mexican Spanish, the version taught in US schools, kept features of Castilian Spanish that fell into disuse elsewhere in Latin America, so this post could be moot...

It can also be used in the indicative mood - they vamoose, I vamoosed, etc.

Though it's always been clear to me that vamoose was a verb, this is actually the first time I've seen it used as anything other than a command. It always brings to mind a cartoon exchange from childhood, where a woman orders some offending pigs, "Vamoose! Scram! Before I turn you into (pause) ham!"

[LukeJavan8]

I had an elementary school teacher who said:
"Let's vamoose", as soon as we lined up to
re-enter the school after recess. It was very
irritating. We mocked her all the time, under
our breaths, of course.