"Native American" and variations thereof (2)

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:06 AM -0600 1/11/01, Joseph McCollum wrote:
>
>Quotative "like":  I think this originated during the 1970's from the
>cartoon "Scooby Doo."  Shaggy used the expression quite a bit.  I picked
>up the habit myself and it grated on my father's ears.

Without knowing the details, I'm willing to be that whatever
popularity boost Scooby Doo may have provided for quotative "like",
the cartoon did not originate this construction, any more than
Saturday Night Live (either Wayne and Garth or the much earlier Steve
Martin skit) originated retro-NOT (which, as discussed here and in
AS, goes back at least to the 1890's).

larry