DCHP-3

double-fisting

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
double fisting

1adv. slang, informal, usually Food & Drink

qualifying the verb: holding two items, one in each hand, usually beverages or food.

Type: 5. Frequency As Chart 1 shows, the term and its construction - in this case, the common phrase double fisting it - are of comparatively high frequency in Canada. The term is often applied to foods (see the 1983 quotation below and the 2010 quotation under meaning 3) and beverages, usually alcoholic ones (see the 1992 and 2013 quotations under meaning 2). Its use, though, is not limited to these semantic domains (see, e.g., the 2105 quotation under meaning 2).
The adverb function appears as the earliest.

Quotations

1983
“A PAIRA BURGS, a dog anna DPC,” yells the kid. Behind the counter, a young woman works double-fisted on the ketchup and mustard, like an experienced farm hand milking a cow. “Single dog and a paira DPCs,” yells the kid, and the line moves foward. “Paira dogs and a paira fries.”
2003
In the battle scenes, the vampires float around in their long overcoats and shoot double-fisted like the Matrix characters.
2adj. slang, informal, usually Food & Drink

pertaining to holding an item in each hand.

Type: 5. Frequency The adjectival function may not have been the earliest, but is the most frequent use in current English.
Note that in the US (DARE, DAE), “double fist” means ‘having two capable fists’, which is rather different from the three meanings presented here.

Quotations

1992
The 7,000 sold-out crowd streaming through the gates to see Canadian platinum rock star Cochrane is a curious mix of sleek and stomper rocker. Most mellow out right away with double-fisted glasses of amber beer. Suds sales stop at 4:30 p.m., so the enterprisers go back for thirds and fours to have on standby for the upcoming dry three hours.
1996
Personally, I’m tired of “grinning and bearing it” at various sporting events as double-fisted imbibers spill drinks (on fans who are actually present to enjoy the sporting event) on their way back and forth to the washroom -- after all, it’s nature; what comes in, must go out.
2002
Most men drank too much. They were also dead wrong in believing we should live one more hour in the insane dread of active alcoholic violence or unreasoning rages. Most Culligan men were especially double-fisted drinkers.
2013
It’s still a simple thing to see motorists being hands-on and very engaged with their smartphones behind the wheel. It’s also a too common thing to see drivers tooling along doing such other things as reading, double-fisted eating, or personal grooming that take away their focus from motoring.
2015
Should two families on the street plan a get together, there will be no parking anywhere. What is going on? This is just another double-fisted money grab! Taxes keep going up - hydro, gas, water etc. - where is this going to end?
3v., verbal n. slang, informal, usually Food & Drink

holding two items, one in each hand, usually beverages or food.

Type: 5. Frequency While in principle it is possible that the general meaning of ‘to fist’ as ‘to grasp’ (see OED-3, s.v. “fist, v.1 (3)”) was extended with double-fisting, the historical record, with its rather late attestation of verbs (the earliest, in a non-verbal noun part of speech, is from 2005), suggests an independent parallel development via the adverb-adjective route, with a rather late conversion to the verb. The phrase “double-fisting it”, when aiming to eliminate the sexual meanings, occurs most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1).

Quotations

1996
Though the audience was provided with free beer (one at a time, no double-fisting), a hotel for the out-of-towners and free pizza during the show, it was a less-than-overwhelming response for the sixth in a series of promotional concerts across the country.
2005
As Jessica and I picked our way back through the crowd to find our friends -- with me double-fisting more water and Gatorade along the way -- numerous people who’d witnessed my graceless exit approached to ask if I was all right.
2010
If you visit Google, type in 2204355 and hit the I’m Feeling Lucky button you’ll be presented with the odd video that is taking web users by storm. In the confounding video, a smiling young man is double fisting two chicken drumsticks in front of an animated rainbow-coloured background.
2011
The machines are taking over. At least that’s the case with cellphones and other mobile devices, which for the first time outnumber human beings in the United States. How is that possible? Simple: adults are double-fisting - and even triple-fisting - phones.
2013
“There’s a guy with a shaved head, and he’s always double-fisting with two beers,” the Calgary Stampeders defensive end was saying the other day. “I know the guy, but I don’t know his name. He’s always wearing green. And he’s always screaming with two beers in his hands, and he always points to me every time.”

References

  • DAE
  • DARE
  • OED-3

Images


        Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 12 Feb. 2014

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 12 Feb. 2014