the moose's problem (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Bill Mullins wrote:
>> Twice in his novels, SF author Robert Heinlein has a character say
>> "that's the moose's problem" (Stranger in a Strange Land and Glory
>> Road).  Both times, it appears from context that the meaning is, "let
>> someone else deal with the details" or "It's not my job" -- something
>> like that.

Bill: Below is the text of a joke that I extracted from a book that GB
dates to 1933. The punchline of the joke is "That's the moose's
problem." If a joke is popular enough then sometimes its punchline can
become a catch phrase. I do not have any evidence that this was a
popular joke, but conceivably Heinlein heard the joke and enjoyed it
enough to refer to it in his books. Or maybe there are other variant
jokes with the same punchline.

Cite: Circa 1933, Principles of Effective Letter Writing by Lawrence
Campbell Lockley, GB Page 228-229, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New
York. (Google Books snippet; Not verified on paper; Data may be
inaccurate)

Sunk in the spacious comfort of a deep arm chair at his luxurious
Fifth Avenue club, a successful broker was boasting of his hunting
experiences. Inclined to exaggerate, he was telling of an almost
impenetrable forest in the Northwest.

"The trees," he said, "were growing so close to each other that they
were actually less than a foot apart. For hours we had fought our way
inward in search of game. I was in the lead, when - roaring, tearing,
and crashing directly at me - charged a huge bull moose with antlers
measuring fully ten feet from tip to tip. Death sped toward me while I
stood rooted to the spot. Then-"

"Hold on, hold on," interrupted a somewhat unfriendly skeptic. "Only a
minute ago you told us that the trees in this forest were less than a
foot apart. Then in the next breath you tell us that in the same
forest a bull moose with antlers fully ten feet wide came charging at
you. How could a moose with that size antlers charge through such a
forest?"

This stopped the big game hunter for a moment. He didn't change his
expression or move even enough to disturb the smoke from his cigar
spiraling into the haze above his head - he was, however, plainly
perturbed. It was a bad stump - and from that low-brow Kennedy, too.
But this lasted for only a second. He leaned forward slightly and
addressed his audience, ignoring Kennedy.

"That's the moose's problem," he said.

(End excerpt)

I think that when the character Jubal uses the phrase in "Stranger in
a Strange Land" he is saying that the problem of serving meals to him
may be difficult but it is Anne's problem not his.

Garson

On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 11:45 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: the moose's problem (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Given the time period  -- Bullwinkle?
> DanG
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 11:16 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject:      the moose's problem (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>> Twice in his novels, SF author Robert Heinlein has a character say
>> "that's the moose's problem" (Stranger in a Strange Land and Glory
>> Road).  Both times, it appears from context that the meaning is, "let
>> someone else deal with the details" or "It's not my job" -- something
>> like that.
>>
>> I can't find anyone else using the term -- checking the major databases
>> to which I have access turns up nothing informative.
>>
>> Is anyone else familiar with the phrase in this usage?
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
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