TV Catchphrase Queries

Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Fri Sep 24 00:57:05 UTC 2004


For the following list of some television catchphrases, I would be
interested in any input, based on ProQuest or Newspaperarchive searches,
citation files, memory, or intuition, as to whether the phrase in question
was around before the TV usage or not.

Va-va-va-voom!
        The Honeymooners (1952) (Ed Norton)

Oh, har-dee-har-har.
        The Honeymooners (1952) (Jackie Gleason)

Peace.
        Today Show (1952) (Dave Garroway's habitual closing, said with
hand in air in a motionless wave)

Thanks ... I needed that.
        The Perry Como Show (1961) (Don Adams after Bill Dana
slapped him in the face)

You really know how to hurt a guy.
        The Perry Como Show (1961) (Don Adams)

Kids, do not try this at home.
        ABC's Wide World of Sports (1973) (Evel Knievel)

Sit on it!
        Happy Days (1975)

Fred Shapiro



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