french fries on the stove

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated  Tue, 12 Oct 2004 09:12:38 -0400,  Page Stephens
<hpst at EARTHLINK.NET> writes
>>you've got to put (or get?) "your > french fries on  [or off?] the stove
before your
>>momma gets home".]
>
>  I have never heard that phrase  but I have heard "He is one
> french fry short  of  Happy Meal."

There are numerous variations of "He's one (or a few) X short of Y", e.g.
"he's one card short of a full deck".  Sesame Street once had three variations on
one show, including "his alphabet doesn't run all the way to Z"  and "his
elevator doesn't run all the way to the top floor".  (I forget the third.  I seem
to recall Big Bird saying this of someone who claimed to have a broom with
him when he was only carrying a briefcase.  The man of course pulled a
full-sized push broom out of his briefcase.)

I am most familiar with the "full deck" version and suspect the whole series
derived from the expression "he's playing with less than a full deck."

     - James A. Landau