Who struck Billie Patterson

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Mon May 31 16:14:49 UTC 2004


>A World Wide Words subscriber from California writes: "The phrase
>'Who struck John' was popular with my late Mother when I was a child
>60 years or so ago.  I not only can't recall the meaning, but the
>context escapes me as well! Any help?"

I heard this rarely about 40 years ago, and I didn't know then exactly what
it meant IIRC.

It apparently was fairly common in the 1950's and was said to date from WW
II. This was used to refer to pointless questions or arguments about who
was to blame for something (as opposed to useful discussion or activity to
some good effect).

The version with Bill/Billy/Billie Patterson has had some urban-legend or
folk-etymology type explanations over the years: at N'archive there are (at
least) two (Baltimore and Richmond) stories, with supposedly actual persons
identified.

I find the expression as early as 1846, on brief search.

I believe "John" is so generic that it's likely to be arbitrary, and even
if it reflects a real person it's doubtful that the identification could be
proven. "Bill Patterson" is more promising but I think chances of provable
identification are still fairly poor: the name was common, and folk-tales
spring up like mushrooms.

-- Doug Wilson



More information about the Ads-l mailing list