french fries on the stove

[Steve Kl.]

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:

>   The radio host evidently made his remark about the French fries as an
> offshoot of those "Yo' momma's insults."  It must have been "get the
> French fries OFF the stove" (not ON) ; implication: so yo' momma won't
> eat them all and get even fatter. Extended meaning: Better get
> everything ready/have everything in order beforehand.

Interestingly, one thing I'm sure of, is that while he definitely said
"momma", he also most definitely said "your" -- not "yo' momma".

For what it's worth.

I thought about the yo-mamma jokes, except today's quote doesn't fit
the fram. The frame in which the jokes occur is "Yo' mamma's so X that she
Y." which isn't that far off from the old comedy staple:

comic: X is so Y!
straight man: How Y is he/she?
comic: He/She is so Y that Z!

Maybe I should do a paper on the semantics of "Match Game '74" (which,
along with double entendre from Charles Nelson Reilly, employed that comic
device in every show).

-- Steve