TV Catchphrase Queries

[Jonathan Lighter]

Fred, "Sit on it!" existed in NYC before 1972.  One of my college buddies told me in that year that he'd used it in high school.  Based on that usage was "Rotate!"  Ibid., idem.

JL

Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Fred Shapiro
Subject: TV Catchphrase Queries
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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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