Jump? How high?; More "Murphy"

[A. Maberry]

When I heard it as a kid (pre-60s) it was: "When I say 'Jump!" you better
not stop to ask 'How high?"

Allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Mon, 7 Jun 1999, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> "Jump" (anybody "bad") "How high?" (the other guy) goes back to the 40's.
> Even my old daddy said "Boy, when  I say 'Jump,' you better say 'How high?"
> Ain't no need to go the the 60's for this one.
>
> dInIs, who jumped high
>
>
>
> >Jump . . . how high? usage in military goes back to at least mid-1960s.
> >
> >In summer (June/July) of 1966, a soldier from NY, in training at Fort
> >Jackson, SC, discussed the trainees who were in the prior training
> >cycle.  They were college-educated, and somewhat respectful (fearful) of
> >the DIs.  "When they (the DIs) said 'jump', those guys said 'how high?'"
> >
> >George S. Cole   gscole at ark.ship.edu
> >Shippensburg University
>
> 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
>