hully-gully adj. haphazard, disorganized, inconsistent, loosey-goosey. Also adverb, willy-nilly, pell-mell, helter-skelter, and noun, hustle and bustle, hurly-burly, hullabaloo. Editorial Note: This term is common in basketball and other sports, especially in Oklahoma and Texas. Etymological Note: The most likely origin is the guessing game hull-gull, also called hul-gul, huh-guh, ho-go, hulligull, and hully-gully (according to DARE). In the game, one player holds marbles or other small objects in the hands and repeats “hull gull, hand full” or a similar expression. Another player guesses how many are being held. If guessing right, the guesser gets to keep all the marbles. If guessing wrong, the guesser owes marbles to the holder. This game is also probably the origin of the name of the hully-gully dance style that appeared at least as early as December 10, 1961, when it was introduced on the Ed Sullivan show. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
On a busy day in the emergency room, Alisa of Dallas, Texas, told an efficient colleague that she was really humming, meaning it as a compliment. Her colleague took offense, maintaining that humming meant “smelly.” Since the 18th...
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
Also popularised by the Beach Boys:
http://www.lyricstime.com/beach-boys-hully-gully-lyrics.html
from the album _Beach Boys Party_ 1965
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