"go figure"

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:49 PM -0400 5/16/01, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>It is my impression that this is a version of "go know", probably from
>Yiddish (something like "geh' weis'" maybe?).
>
>Probably one of Rosten's books would include this?
>
>Early citation of "go know": <<Prithee, Emilia, / Go know of Cassio where
>he supp'd tonight.>> -- Shakespeare, "Othello"  (^_^)
>
Well...

I do agree with the earlier claim, that "go figure" is a cousin of
"go know", which is a calque from the Yiddish.

larry

(Sorry about the randomness of my replies--I'm back from two
e-mailless weeks in Japan and I'm still working my way through 500
postings in my mailer.)