I am on my way to a faculty party at the university. The Head of Sciences is retiring and is throwing a huge bash, all his staff, selected external examiners like me and various scientists from private institutions and funding bodies. The Head of Sciences is married to a French wine merchant and caterer and expectations of this party are unusually high for a faculty do.
page 102, Apple Tree Yard
I like this passage from an English language point of view. The author Louise Doughty includes two synonyms for party; a bash and a do. Bash is slang, it conjures a wild type of party, possibly impromptu, raucous and loud.
Etymonline says On a bash "on a drunken spree" is slang from 1901, which gave the word its sense of "party." Does that mean the first time "bash" was used to mean party is in 1901? I understand that the expression on a bash is from 1901, so bash must have come later.
A do on the other hand, sounds as if the party is quite formal, where one is expected to dress up and behave in a socially acceptable manner. Dos are, typically, weddings, landmark birthdays or grand social events. In this case a faculty party can be called a do.
mainly UK informal a party or other social event:
Colin's having a bit of a do for his 50th birthday.
It was one of those dos where nobody really knew each other.
- Are the distinctions I made between between bash and do correct?
- How (and when) did "bash" and "do" mean party?
Best Answer
J. E. Lighter, Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994) suggests that bash in the sense of "party" originated outside the United States, perhaps from the idiom "on the bash":
Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, eighth edition (1984) partly corroborates that theory of origin, in this entry for bash:
But Partridge also notes that bash as a verb has long had a seemingly related slang meaning in Australian English:
On the other hand, John Ayto & John Simpson, The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang (1992), asserts that bash in the sense of "party" is of U.S. origin:
In general, American slang dictionaries Robert Chapman & Barbara Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, third edition (1995) has this entry:
bash ... 2 n 1940s A party, esp a good, exciting one: Her little soiree turned into a real bash.
But Tom Dalzell, Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang (1996) asserts that bash had a narrower sense in the 1940s, as a verb:
The relatively few slang dictionaries that address do in the sense of "party" suggest that it is a more formal affair than a bash is. From Jonathon Green, The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (1984):
Harold Wentworth & Stuart Flexner, Dictionary of American Slang, first edition (1960), traces the word (in U.S. usage) to 1952:
Paul Beale, Partridge's Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1989) suggests that the term may be older and non-American, although the cited instance may be simply coincidental, given how basic the word do is:
To summarize, bash in the sense of party may originate from kindred usage or phrases in the UK, Australia, Canada, the United States, or German POW camps; and do may be traced to the United States in 1952 or to Britain in 1820.
In general, a do seems more formal than a bash—and the phrase slap-up do doesn't tend in a contrary direction, as slap-up has virtually nothing in common with slap-dash. Partridge's Eighth Dictionary of Slang defines slap-up as meaning "Excellent; superior, first rate; grand."
If bash in the sense of party did indeed emerge from bash in the sense of "a drinking spree,"then perhaps the violence of the word bash is related to activities pursued during the spree or perhaps the state of the participant's head the next morning. This is purely speculative, however, as none of the references I consulted hazarded an explanation for the word choice.