Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Soeze" is pronounced very much like the "Egbert _Souse'_" immortalized by
W. C. Fields.

JL

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A former prosecutor on Tru TV describes tot-mom Casey Anthony as exhibiting
> "what I call the Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon."
>
> KS is a central but off-screen character in _The Usual Suspects_ (1995).
> IIRC, everybody describes him inconsistently.
> What's Keyser really like? Who knows! All we know is that it's vitally
> important.
>
> The allusion is to CA's seemingly preternatural ability to change her story
> about what happened to her daughter at the drop of a hat and without a
> blink, while incorporating any details that the detectives happened to
> present her with.  The impression is that almost everything she says is a
> lie, but she really really expects you to believe it.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org