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Why do we say “Shake a leg”?

Hurry up; get moving.

The story

At first, shaking a leg meant dancing. An 1863 Iowa ad for a local ball bragged that nearly every man “able to shake a leg” had bought a ticket. People also used to “shake a foot,” “shake a toe,” and “shake your heels,” but only the leg stuck around. By 1904 a New York magazine explained that it meant “hurry up.”

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