"stuck on stupid"

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
Fri May 29 17:10:55 UTC 2009


On May 29, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
>
> There are nearly a zillion raw googlits for this phrase, which I
> only recall
> hearing within the past five years.
>
> The earliest ex. I can find is typical:
>
> 1995 Usenet: news.users.question (Dec. 31): And if I am stuck on
> stupid
> that's ok it's not all that bad but is unhandy and you did waste
> your time
> reading this. Happy 1996 to all.
>
> You know, like a gauge of some kind. A brain gauge.

there's a Stuck on Stupid webpage (stuckon-stupid.com), which says
it's about "Exposing the low wattage of the liberal mindset".

Google Books has a pile of books with this expression in it from 2000
on, but only two before that year (1998 and 1992).  the 1992 item is
Kevin Coyne's A Day in the Night of America, and the cite is on p. 280).

so it seems to be genuinely recent.

it has the feel of a catchphrase that started as a quotation.  anyone
have evidence on the matter?

arnold

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