twenty-three skidoo

twenty-three skidoo

Meaning

• to depart in a haste
• to leave quickly or being forced to leave quickly
• to get out while things are still good

Example Sentences

1. The police threatened to imprison everyone in the crowd that did not 23 skidoo from the park.
2. After hitting the motorcycle the car driver stopped and he twenty-three skidoo toward the woods.
3. Hey, Sally, it's too hot today, let's twenty-three skidoo for beach.
4. Man, I came here to watch these beautiful mountains don't twenty three skidoo so soon.
5. The kids were plucking flowers from my garden when I shout at them, they just 23 skidoo.

Origin

[America]. The phrase has originated in the American slang which became popular in the beginning of the 20th century. It is a combination of two separate slang words which were “23” and “skidoo”. To use both would refer to getting kicked out (of somewhere) or having to leave quickly and quietly. The origin is said to be from the year 1906. The word “Skidoo” was used for a person who brought bad luck and hence had to be kicked out at ones.

Another story for the origin of the phrase comes from the Flatiron Building which is shaped triangular and is located at the intersection of Broadway and the Fifth Avenue. The street is the 23^rd one and men would often gather there to watch women's skirts get blown in the wind, exposing their knees, which was caused because of the shape of the building's ventilation grate. They would be asked to move away immediately and the expression 23 Skidoo came about. A Nicklodeon movie produced in 1906 is titled “What happened on Twenty-Third Street”.