like = 'It goes without saying that...not'

[Ben Zimmer]

Slightly earlier than "Wayne's World":

http://books.google.com/books?id=cyCZS6zwFuMC&q=%22yeah+as+if%22
Rick Hautala, _Cold Whisper_ (1991), p. 212
Shaking his head, he turned back to his own work and whispered, "Well, it may be
true, but I didn't write it."
"Yeah, as if," Sarah said.


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:40 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>
> Standalone "as if" was used in "Wayne's World" (1992).
>
> Benjamin Kane: You didn't really think she'd end up with Wayne, did you?
> Garth: As if.
> Wayne: As if we'd end the movie like that. Yeah!
> Garth: Let's do the scooby-doo ending.
> Wayne: Good call.
> Wayne and Garth: Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo!
> Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo!
>
> audio:
>
http://www.hark.com/waynes-world/you-didnt-really-think-shed-end-up-with-wayne-did-you
>
> --bgz
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 9:43 PM, Tyler Schnoebelen wrote:
>>
>> I cruised around COCA and found these--prior to Clueless but not by a lot.
>>
>> From the film "This Boy's Life" (1993)...which was supposed to be based on
>> Tobias Wolff's  relationship in the 1950s with his father.
>> DWIGHT: So the S.O.B. had been on my back for a week at work, okay? Sayin' I
>> stole his wrench, an' poured oil all over his tools, as if ! Anyway, he went
>> just one step too far with old Dwight, okay? Spat on the floor as I walked
>> by.
>>
>> From Firmani (1994) in the Kenyon Review:
>> "And one guy, after being told this again and again, saw a white guy in a
>> car stopped at the light and said, here's Bubba get me mine; and came back
>> with a dollar to give us. As if ! And Driver finally shoved a sandwich into
>> his hands saying keep yo' fuckin' dollar and get lost."
>>
>> From Cindy Pearlman in a 1994 Chicago Sun-Times article about Chicago in a
>> holiday film:
>> "Ask her one last question: Does she like Barney? " No, Barney is
>> phony-acting. I watch' Melrose Place' and' The Simpsons.' " # 5. WHITE
>> CHRISTMAS? Right, as if ."
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: like = 'It goes without saying that...not'
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>>
>> > This pattern has been discussed in a couple of papers.
>>
>> Tsk, OED, tsk.
>>
>> BTW, I associate "As if!" with the film _Clueless_ (1995) rather than with
>> the original Valley Girl craze of a dozen years earlier.  It came in too
>> late to achieve HDAS immortality.

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