query on origin of snowclone

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sat Feb 5 01:22:13 UTC 2011


In a glowing review of a new novel, _Death
Instinct_, by Jed (Mr. Tiger Mother) Rubenfeld at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/books/03book.html,
reviewer Susannah Meadows describes the reaction
of hero Dr. Stratham Younger, to the mysterious
French femme fatale, Colette Rousseau, an
erstwhile protegée of Marie Curie whom he first
met during the Great War:  "She has him at
bonjour".  This is one of many spinoffs of the
line ("NP had NP at X") I've encountered over the
15 years since the release of "Jerry Maguire".
But was "You had me at hello" already established
before Dorothy/Renee Zellweger self-declares to
Jerry/Tom Cruise?  (On a personal note, I'm
wondering if the line predates my cats, who had
me at "meow" in Oct. '95.)

LH

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