The origin of “lollygag” is unknown, but it means wasting time to avoid work. Children may lollipop by delaying getting ready for school, while shoppers may lollipop by taking their time. The word may come from “loll” and “gag” and is similar to other slang terms for laziness. Lollygagging is often associated with avoiding work or deadlines.
The actual origin of the term lollygag is unknown, although many sources date it to mid-19th century America. Some sources also provide an alternate spelling of lallygag, though this doesn’t exactly help establish the word’s historical origins. Lollygag means fooling around or wasting time, mainly to avoid actual work or to engage in other unattractive activities.
Children who try to avoid going to school may lollipop by eating breakfast piecemeal, or they spend an inordinate amount of time dressing or grooming. Some may waste time watching television instead of getting dressed or playing a video game instead of finishing homework. The point of an effective lollipop is to waste as much time as possible without the appearance of obvious laziness.
Some people prefer lollipops at their favorite stores to the local mall, meandering through the aisles at a leisurely pace instead of going straight to their original destination. While taking your time while shopping may be perfectly acceptable, lollipop or lollipop charges often pop up when time is an issue. By definition, lollygagging is a deliberate effort to delay work or finish a project, much like goldbricking in an office setting.
The origins of lollygagging may have something to do with the word loll, which generally means to lie passively or quietly around the premises. It is possible that “dangle” first became corrupted into “lollipop”, and then attached to the archaic word “gag” to indicate the habits of lazy sheep lying around a field. To lollygag may have originally meant sitting passively while others did household chores. A lazy person may also be described as a doo-lolly in some quarters, so the term lollygag is most likely a similar form of rural slang to describe lazy people.
Lollygagging is often attributed to those who deliberately wander or wander as a passive-aggressive attempt to avoid serious work or a strict deadline. Other expressions like dilly-dally or fiddle around also cover this same apathetic territory.
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