[Dixielandjazz] Skip the gutter

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

A very good question!

Eric Townley does not list the expression in either of his /Tell your 
story/ volumes, so one has to turn to dictionaries.

Partridge (/Dictionary of slang/) gives it as meaning "houpla!" or "over 
she goes!" and the OED, for "houp-la", has "an exclamation accompanying 
a quick or sudden movement". The only reference to "skip the gutter" in 
the OED is in the definition of "skip" as "to jump or leap lightly over 
something".

Either way, it could be a description of Armstrong's playing.

All the best,
Anton



On 1/06/2013 23:26, Gerard Bielderman wrote:
> Can anybody explain the meaning of the Armstrong title SKIP THE GUTTER?