shuggleftulation

"Dear Cecil:

All of us old enough to be allowed to walk down the street by ourselves have experienced that peculiar encounter with an oncoming stroller characterized by dance-like and indecisive movements from side to side, as each participant helplessly fences with the other in an effort to avoid a head-on collision. This raises not one but three questions: (1) is there a word for this type of encounter, and if so, (2) what is it? (3) Whatever happened to 'keep to the right' as a guiding principle for pedestrian traffic? Your answers to these questions will help immeasurably in my personal campaign to re-educate the public in the niceties of moving right along. Think how I will impress total strangers if I can emphasize to them the value of keeping to the right in order to avoid '----ing.' --J.G., Chicago

Cecil replies:

Let's keep this talk of '----ing' to a minimum, J.; we're trying to run a family column around here. I am pleased to report that at least one attempt has been made to give a name to the little two-step you describe: shuggleftulation, 'the actions of two people approaching, trying to get around each other, and muttering 'thanks for the dance'.' My source here is Rich Hall's Sniglets (Collier Books, 1984), a sniglet being 'any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should.' Other sniglets, as long as we're on the subject, include elecelleration, 'the mistaken notion that the more you press an elevator button the faster it will arrive,' and pupkus, 'the moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.' Worthy though these efforts may be, I can't help thinking 'shuggleftulation' doesn't quite cut the mustard, so I've trying to think up something better. The possibilities so far include sidewaltz, minueticate, and (my personal favorite) doing the concrete quadrille. No sensitive person can fail to be impressed by the poetry of these suggestions. However, if anyone has ideas of his or her own, and is desirous of seeing same immortalized in print, I am invite you to submit them forthwith."

The Straight Dope