Get a wiggle on

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Meaning

Hurry up, begin moving, or work faster, usually as an informal and lightly humorous prompt rather than a severe command. Informal and often good-natured. The British variant with 'wriggle' may sound more natural outside North America. Regional use: Chiefly American English; compare British 'get a wriggle on'.

Origin

This chiefly American form turns the quick physical motion of a wiggle into a brisk instruction to get moving. It was already in print in an 1898 issue of The Paper Trade Journal, in a verse beginning 'Get a wiggle on, my lad,' and therefore predates its later popularity in 20th-century slang and song. The closely related British form is 'get a wriggle on.' The surviving evidence shows the metaphor clearly but does not identify one inventor or a special incident behind it.

Research Sources

  1. Get a wiggle on Cambridge Dictionary
  2. The Paper Trade Journal, November 26, 1898 Wikimedia Commons periodical scan
  3. American Heritage Dictionary entry: wiggle American Heritage Dictionary

Variants

  • Get a wiggle on you
  • Get a wriggle on

Usage Examples

  • We need to get a wiggle on if we want seats near the stage.
  • The foreman told the delivery crew to get a wiggle on before the rain arrived.
  • Get a wiggle on, you two; the museum closes in forty minutes.

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