"Your ass is grass ...

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "... and I'm the lawnmower."
>
> This was discussed here a while ago, but, as far as I can tell from
> cursorily checking the archives, no dating was supplied.
>
> IAC, these words were spoken by the late, great Murray "Sgt. Clyde"
> Hamilton to the late, great Tab "Rct. Andy Sheaffer" Hunter in the
> 1956 movie, _The Girl He Left Behind._.
>
> I don't know whether this line was made up for the movie by Guy
> Troper, the screenwriter. If not, it's probably older than 1956

According to reviews in _Time_, the line in both the novel and the film is:

"If you screw up around here, your behinds will be grass and I will be
the lawnmower."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867007,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808693-2,00.html

Of course, the euphemization spoils the rhyme, so what's the point? :->


--Ben Zimmer

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