Veep

Baker, John JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM
Mon May 14 22:52:54 UTC 2012


I assume that "under the moon" is meant as a negation of "over the moon," very happy or delighted; The Phrase Finder has a discussion at http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/over-the-moon.html.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2012 6:02 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Veep

Last night:

"Shall I fire up the shit-eater?" (Paper-shredder.)

"He's busting my fucking lady-balls."

"You gotta network to get work."

"I let the whale hang loose." (Penis.)

I listened to the following exchange five times, and all I can hear is
"under the moon," which makes no sense to me:

SELINA: I thought you were going to give me shit about filibuster reform.

JONAH: Oh, well, the White House is very much under the moon about that.

Quotable quip [Selina's being warned not to make a deal with a xenophobe
senator]: "When you go down that dark country road, the lights go out and
the scarecrows come alive."

JL



On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 9:39 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:      Re: Veep
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yeah, I heard "what's-his-face" years before "what's-his-ass."  Also in
> 1975, "what's-his-fuck."
>
> Besides "what's-his-name," my grandfather also used "whozis."  For an
> inanimate object, of course, he used "whatsis."
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 8:24 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Veep
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 7:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> > > "What the F-word is going on?" ("What the eff is going on?")
> > >
> > In an episode of The Family Guy, Huck Griffin addresses himself to
> > "N-word Jim," after getting yelled at by Jim for first addressing him
> > as, well, "N-word Jim."
> >
> > > "What's-his-ass said so." =C2 ("What's-his-name." =C2 I heard this in
> 1=
> 975.)
> >
> > ("What's-his-face." I heard this in 1960, popularized by the same EM
> > who also introduced "How ADJ is that?!" and other catch-phrases.)
> >
> > -Wilson

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