While there isn't a clear theatre origin for this phrase, it seems pretty obvious that it probably came from some type of performing arts, so likely, the theatre. When used in a performing arts sense, it means to show off how good you are at performing. An actor struts his stuff on stage when he is good. A ham may strut his stuff even if he isn't a good actor.
The word strut comes from the Middle English word strouten meaning to protrude stiffly, swell, or bluster or the Old English word strūtian meaning to struggle. The Old English is a derivative of *strūt coming from the Middle English word strut meaning strife.
The word you comes from the Middle English and the Old English word ēower which are genitives of gē. a form of ye. It could also desecend from the German word euer.
The word stuff comes from the late Middle English verb stuffen meaning to equip or furnish which comes from the Old French verb estoffer meaning to stuff which comes from the Frankish verbs *stopfōn and *stoppōn which are akin to the word stop. The word stuff could also come from the Middle English noun which comes from the Old French word estoffe which is a derivative of the verb.
Today, there are many theatre and dance companies that use the phrase "strut your stuff" for their names. There are also songs such as the following song from 1980 by Young and Company called "Strut Your Stuff."
If you enjoy my content, please consider becoming one of my patrons through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheatreGeek where I will be sharing more in-depth content, answering your questions, sharing which types of software I use and how to find them, and more. By becoming my patron, you allow me to create more content about theatre and more theatrical content.
You can also give a one-time support by tipping at my my Ko-fi page. It is much appreciated and allows me to continue writing my blog instead of doing drudge work in order to make the little bit of money I can to afford to take time to write.
No comments:
Post a Comment