[Ads-l] Famous Quotations from Comic Strips

Baker, John JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM
Mon Mar 20 17:46:08 UTC 2017


Dykes To Watch Out For:  "I only go to a movie if it satisfies three basic requirements.  One, it has to have at least two women in it . . . who, two, talk to each other about, three, something besides a man."  (the "Bechdel test"; ellipsis original)

Popeye the Sailorman, aka Thimble Theatre:  Segar liked catch-phrases.  In addition to "I yam what I yam and that's all I yam" and "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," there's "Jones is the name; I'm one of the Jones boys" (Wimpy's repeated self-identification, when he did not want to be known); "I would like to invite you over to my house for a duck dinner...You bring the ducks!" (Wimpy catch-phrase); "Well blow me down" (Popeye's catch-phrase, although people were saying "blow me down" before Segar); "Let's you and him fight" (Wimpy's catch-phrase).  And, from the cartoons, there's also "I'm strong to the finich Cause I eats me spinach."

Barnaby:  "Cushlamochree!" (catch-phrase of Mr. O'Malley, Barnaby's fairy godfather).

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D.:  "Zap" (sound effect).

Smokey Stover:  Lots of catch-phrases, including "foo", "foo fighters" (no, the band did not make it up), "notary sojac", "scram gravy ain't wavey" and "1506 nix nix."  

Doonesbury:  "Guilty!  Guilty!  Guilty!"

Calvin and Hobbes:  "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy . . . let's go exploring!" (ellipsis original)


Fred didn't ask for comic book quotations, so this is restricted to comic strips.  I tried to avoid quotations that are already in YBK, but may have missed some.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2017 5:50 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Famous Quotations from Comic Strips

For the second edition of the Yale Book of Quotations, I would welcome suggestions of famous quotes from comic strips.  These could be one-off quotes or could be recurring catchphrases (like "leapin' lizards" from Little Orphan Annie).  I believe I already have the more famous lines from Peanuts and Pogo.

Fred Shapiro
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.project-2Dwombat.org_&d=DwICAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=NvsW-OhBbzxE92nK31T2wnmV21_Bx7bPCKzIsk5T4FQ&m=WEaXGvNypF0kvSB3qw7ylnEVbySwXtDEeWoOxJqKq4k&s=Dbh1pFbCq_Z7v5d6MG1KimDeUY20FqHfGMUlZZU_LRM&e=>

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