A-GoGo

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi there, this is Chandra, and I’m calling from San Diego, California.

Hi, Chandra, how are you doing?

I’m doing very well, thank you. How are you?

All right, what can we do for you?

Well, in San Diego, there’s this really great breakfast place, and it’s called Hash House O’Go-Go.

It’s really great. They have these huge pancakes, bigger than anyone could ever eat by themselves.

But I was just wondering…

You haven’t had breakfast with Grant.

Or my son.

You could try it out. Oh, it’s pretty good.

But I was just wondering what the a go-go part meant because I’ve heard that many times before.

So I hadn’t even really thought about it until I started thinking about it.

And I just, I don’t know what it means.

I could, my only guess is maybe it means like to go or you can take food with you if you want.

That’s the best I could come up with.

And what’s the name of that place again? Hash House a go-go?

Hash House, yeah.

Okay, okay.

They’re not on roller skates or anything, are they?

No.

They don’t have people who skate to your car and give you your order?

It’s an indoor establishment, and it’s kind of a farm theme, actually.

Yeah.

A farm theme?

Yeah.

They also have another restaurant called Tractor Room, so it’s just kind of going with that theme.

Google always makes me think of white boots and miniskirts.

Exactly.

That was my other question.

What does it have to do with the boots?

Is there any connection there?

Makes me think of my past.

-oh.

No, we do have an easy answer for you here.

-huh.

In French, agogo means plenty or galore.

Oh.

And there used to be in France, I don’t know if it’s still there, Grant, in the 50s,

There was a discotheque in Paris called Whiskyagogo that, you know, had a lot of whiskey.

So this was a famous joint and the name spread from there?

Yeah.

In fact, there’s a Whiskyagogo in Los Angeles as well now.

-huh.

Very, very good.

So that probably influenced the go-go boots, too, which I always wanted to have when I was in junior high.

Did you have them growing up, Chandra?

No.

Do you have them now?

I can’t say that I do, unfortunately.

Maybe for Halloween.

Maybe for Halloween.

I’m looking in the Collins-Will-Bear Dictionary here, and I see that a go-go in French, if we can get a little deeper into it,

Basically means with abandonment or to your discretion.

And it comes from the 1400s when there was a word that kind of meant, well, I guess total usage means you’re using this thing, whatever it is, food in this case, you’re piling on it as if it’s festival time.

You’re like serving up major portions of something, especially alcohol or especially drinks.

Yeah, or in your case, hash.

Or hash, yeah.

The food.

Well, that makes sense.

I like that.

And it applies because the portions there are unbelievable.

Really big, huh?

Yeah, so a go-go generally means with aplomb or with gusto or with lots of, with galore, you know, abundance.

Somebody who believes in the cornucopia of life.

Okay, I like that.

Well, thank you very much.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

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