Stupid .... tricks

[Gareth Branwyn]

Yes, I'm sure you're right.

Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> At 12:36 PM -0500 3/19/02, Drew Danielson wrote:
> >Gareth Branwyn wrote:
> >>
> >>  "James A. Landau" wrote:
> >>
> >>  > "stupid accounting tricks"---"stupid .... tricks" is in my
> >>experience a phrase used only by computer people (I remember a
> >>collection of "stupid UNIX tricks" in the newspaper Computerworld
> >>several years back) but it could easily have arisen elsewhere.
> >>  >
> >>
> >>  "Stupid .... tricks" originated (I believe) with David Letterman when he
> >>  was still at NBC. "Stupid human tricks" was a regular segment (where
> >>  people did silly bar-bet types of stunts). But then, the bit (and the
> >>  term) may have come from Steve Allen, from whom Letterman got most of
> >>  his act. They still do stupid human tricks periodically on CBS. When
> >>  Letterman left NBC, there was a big intellectual property stink about
> >>  whether he could take the bit, and the name, to CBS.
> >>
> >>  Gareth
> >
> >Letterman also had "stupid animal tricks" and "stupid kid tricks" on
> >NBC.  I have no idea which came first.
>
> I'm pretty sure it was "stupid pet tricks" that came first.
>
> LH