what i mean

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

over on soc.motss today (5/5/05), michael palmer asked:
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When did...
"ya know what I mean" become a punctuation mark?  Yesterday one of my
students used it to end six consecutive sentences.  Finally, the devil
got the best of me:  I stopped him and said, "No, I haven't a clue
what you mean.  Please explain".
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jess anderson hazarded the guess:
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About 1960.
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and robert coren continued:
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I was going to suggest 1923. We'd probably both be on the late side.

Ring Lardner had a sharp ear for verbal tics of this sort, and I'm
remembering a passage from his story "Champion" in which the
protagonist's manager, giving a newspaper interview, says "Get what I
mean?" after about two sentences in three. Not word for word what
Michael quoted, but close enough.
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has anyone here tracked this sort of thing?

arnold