french fries on the stove

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:50 PM -0400 10/13/04, James A. Landau wrote:
>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

Here are a few more "fulldeckisms", interspersed with far too many
other deprecatory evaluations to be posted here, that I've preserved
from an online humor collection awhile back (the link is long since
dead).

Larry
============

Canonical List of Fulldeckisms, 05/01

From: ajs at fc.hp.com (Alan Silverstein)
Date: 1 May 1995 15:46:08 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site
Newsgroups: rec.humor
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------


Also check this URL:  http://www.misty.com/laughweb

         CANONICAL LIST OF FULLDECKISMS


         Maintained by Alan Silverstein, ajs at fc.hp.com
         Last update:  950501
         Total entries:   839

         A compendium of insults and "not all there" comments from
         various sources, beginning with rec.humor, April 1987.

         A couple of slates short of a full roof.
         A couplet short of a sonnet.
         A doughnut short of being a cop.
         A few beads short in her rosary.
         A few beers short of a six-pack / a six-pack short of a case.
         A few birds shy of a flock.
         A few bombs/melons short of a full load.
         A few bricks short of a wall / hod / load.
         A few clowns short of a circus.
         A few clues shy of a solution.
         A few ears short of a bushel.
         A few feathers short of a whole duck.
         A few fish short of a string.
         A few guppies short of an aquarium.
         A few inches short of a foot/yard.
         A few kernels short of an ear.
         A few kopeks short of a ruble.
         A few links shy of a chain.
         A few open splices.
         A few peas short of a pod/casserole.
         A few pickles short of a jar.
         A few pies short of a holiday.
         A few planes short of an Air Force / hangar.
         A few points short of a polygon.
         A few revisions behind.
         A few sandwiches/apples/ants short of a picnic.
         A few screws loose.
         A few shrimps short of a barbie.
         A few spoons short of a full set.
         A few straws shy of a bale.
         A few tiles missing from his space shuttle.
         A few tiles short of a successful re-entry.
         A few too many lights out in his Christmas tree.
         A few volts below threshold.
         A few yards short of the hole.