Einstein

[Dennis R. Preston]

Mark,

Indeed you have the bracketed part wrong for me; it was (among the clever
teenagers of the Louisville KY area of the early 50's)

No shit, Sherlock.

dInIs



>Barry sez:
>
>>>>
>HE'S NO EINSTEIN
>
>     Jay Leno uses this a lot.  It's rare, but a person's last name alone can
>be the slang phrase.  "Hey, nice going, EINSTEIN!"
>     I've never seen it recorded.
>     The AMERICAN MACHINIST, 3 December 1956, pg. 109, advertisement for
>Tomkins-Johnson reamers:
>
>     _Now they call Joe a genius_*
>     *He's no Einstein--but he figured how to cut costs...
><<<
>
>>>From the late fifties and early sixties, I recall these used sarcastically:
>
>     Great play, Shakespeare!
>          (sports, games?)
>
>     [Brilliant deduction], Sherlock!
>          (to someone who has just stumbled upon the obvious;
>           but I think I have the bracketed part wrong)
>
>
>-- Mark

Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736