exactamundo was Re: gigung(o)us, gigund(o)us, gigunda, gigundo

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 09:27:17 -0500, Mullins, Bill
<Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
>> And influencing the thus-far-unrecorded _exactamundo_ (1990,
>> or perhaps earlier?):
>
>>From Newsbank:
>ORANGEMEN WIN IN A NEAR-WALK -
>DON'T CALL IT A MASTERPIECE OF BASKETBALL
>Syracuse Herald-Journal (NY)
>March 20, 1989
>Author: Bud Poliquin
>
>"``It,'' said Owens, ``was like playing a scrimmage game.''
>
>Exactamundo. And, never mind that the teams didn't go skins-and-shirts."

I believe "exactamundo" was popularized by the cartoon series "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles", which aired in the US beginning in 1987.  The
character Michelangelo had a penchant for faux-Hispanicisms/Italicisms.

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http://www.geocities.com/dreamcatcher_12466/nqh-an.html
Some of Michelangelo's favorite expressions are "Exactamundo," "Awesome,"
"Tubuloso," "Primo to the extremo," "Holy Guacamole," and "Cowabunga!"
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"Cowabunga" is of course a Howdy Doody-derived surferism that Bart Simpson
also helped to revive starting c1987 (Bart first said it back when "The
Simpsons" was still a short feature on "The Tracey Ullman Show").


--Ben Zimmer