rolled a 23, had thereby lost his money and should stop squawking and beat it. This became, by a logical extension, an in-crowd, underworld expression indicating that for whatever reason the person addressed would not get what he was seeking and should clear out. Examples of use The Love Sonnets of a Car Conductor (1908): The House Boat Boys; or Drifting Down to the Sunny South (1912): Make Way for Tomorrow (1937): A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943): Cheaper by the Dozen (1948): The saying was in popular usage prior to 1912, as it appears in the transcript of the Titanic Inquiry: William S. Burroughs wrote a short story in 1967 titled "23 Skidoo". In an episode of Popeye the Sailor Man (1954), titled "Taxi-Turvy", Olive Oyl asks Popeye to take her to 23 Skidoo Street: "23 Skidoo Street, driver." Aleister Crowley in The Book of Lies (ca. 1912–13) titled Chapter 23 "Skidoo", with the comment that "23" and "Skidoo" are American words meaning "Get out". There is a post-punk band originating in the 1970s named 23 Skidoo. The password '23skidoo' was used by Microsoft to encrypt WFWSYS.CFG configuration file using RC4, which was used in early Windows for Workgroups installations. Spat what he knew, energy for true. To all fake rappers, twenty-three skidoo - "Sofa King" by Dangerdoom, lyrics by MF Doom See also 23 enigma References Notes External links Water pipeline to Skidoo ghost town, 23 miles long Word Detective column on origin of 23-skidoo 23 Skidoo from the Museum of the City of New York Collections blog Articles containing video clips English-language slang 1900s neologisms Quotations from literature Catchphrases English words and phrases