Trip the light fantastic (phrase)

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To "trip the light fantastic" is to dance nimbly or lightly, or to move in a pattern to musical accompaniment.

The expression may also refer to setting in motion some operation, often complex, by means of a triggering device. For instance, "tripping the light fantastic" has been used in reference to the triggering of a green traffic signal by deliberately activating an in-pavement sensor approaching an intersection. Bicyclists in particular often find triggering the sensor requires skill and luck (the rider typically must track a narrow groove in the pavement over the sensor wire), and the expression, used by a bicyclist, seems to capture well both the delicacy of the operation and the euphoric sensation experienced when the signal is made to turn green before a stop is necessary.

[edit] History

This phrase evolved through an interesting series of usages and references. The phrase is typically attributed to Milton's poem L'Allegro, but a somewhat similar phrase appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The phrase in this modern usage comes from the lyrics of the song The Sidewalks of New York. The following chronological list outlines a few notable usages of this and similar sounding phrases.

The phrase 'tripping on his toe' appears in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written in 1611:

Before you can say come, and goe,

And breathe twice; and cry, so, so:

Each one tripping on his Toe,

Will be here with mop, and mowe.

In this context, "mop, and mowe" means 'a grimace'.

In the poem L'Allegro by John Milton, published in 1645, a similar phrase appears, which seemingly refers to the dance-like gracefulness of the goddess Mirth:

Come, and trip it as ye go,

On the light fantastick toe.

And in thy right hand lead with thee,

The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty;

The term trip in this passage means to step lightly or nimbly. The adjectives light and fantastick (as Milton spelled it) refer to the movement of the feet (toe, or dance step).

William Makepeace Thackeray borrows this phrase in Men’s Wives (published in 1843), as an elegant and humorous reference to dancing:

Mrs. Crump sat in a little bar, profusely ornamented with pictures of the dancers of all ages, from Hillisberg, Rose, Parisot, who plied the light fantastic toe in 1805, down to the Sylphides of our day.

This expression became popular from the song "The Sidewalks of New York" (melody and text by Chas B. Lawlor and James W. Blake) in 1894.

Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O'Rourke

Tripped the light fantastic

on the sidewalks of New York

A variation appeared in the poem "Jim Brown" by Edgar Lee Masters, part of his Spoon River Anthology. It appears in a list of activities that divides men into camps for and against. In the poem it is not tripping, but skipping the light fantastic.

[edit] Modern usages

The phrase 'trip the light fantastic' has been used in several modern contexts. One of the more interesting evolutions of the phrase is in the 1960s ballad A Whiter Shade of Pale, by the rock group Procol Harum.

We skipped the light fandango,

Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

I was feeling kinda seasick

But the crowd called out for more

The phrase 'skipped the light fandango' also refers to dancing; the Fandango is a lively Spanish dance accompanied by castanets.

In a similar manner, Ben Folds Five alluded to the phrase in their song Underground, on their eponymous album:

We'll be dressed in all black

Slamming the pit fantastic

Officer Friendly's little boy's got a mohawk

And he knows just where we're coming from

This is also the title of an album by singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

The phrase is used in the second line of a 1927 song by Billy Murray and Aileen Stanley - 'I'm Gonna Dance Wit da Guy Wot Brung Me' - a delightfull comical duet between two New York types using one slang phrase after another in a vaudeville-like routine. The manner in which the phrase is used, suggests that 'tripping the light fantasic' was a not unusual bit of Roaring 20's slang.

The phrase was also used in the film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Zaphod Beeblebrox.

The phrase appears in the song "Walking in the rain" by Grace Jones, in the "Island Life" album.

The phrase appears in the 1997 film "L.A. Confidential" when the character of Sid Hudgens (played by Danny DeVito) refers to two young pot-smokers as "tripping the light fantastic." In this instance the phrase is used ironically and plays off the contemporary slang usage of "trip" referring to taking drugs, specifically hallucinogenics. This updated meaning of the phrase is made possible by the earlier truncating of "toe" off the end, so that "trip the light fantastic toe" becomes simply "trip the light fantastic," where "light" and "fantastic" cease to modify "toe," and now "fantastic" simply modifies "light." The new meaning that now arises from the phrase is to take a mental journey on hallucinogenic drugs.

A similar usage is employed in Terry Pratchett's second Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic, describing the opposite of light. Not darkness, but rather as far from darkness as normal light, but in the opposite direction. Cambridge historian Simon Schaffer's BBC series Light Fantastic uses the theme of light to explore the development of science.

The phrase also appears in 1979 BBC television mini-series adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: "Tripping the light fantastic through the whitehall coridors"

This phrase occurs in David Crowder and Mike Hogan's book Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die: Science and the soul have been tripping the light fantastic together for some time now. Page 72.