Give me five, etc. (1925)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 02:42:32 -0800, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
>>Mr. Catlett, who first gained great popularity a few years ago in "Sally,"
>>when he played a comedy part along with Leon Errol, has invented a number
>>of widely used and expressive phrases Among them are "So's your old man,"
>>and "Press the flesh," "Give me five," and "Mitt me," the last three all
>>invitations to shake hands.
>
>Was Walter Catlett black? I thought "give me five" (and probably "press the
>flesh") was a black-invented phrase.

No, Catlett was definitely white.  You might remember him as a character
actor in his later film career-- he played various comedic roles in the
'30s and '40s, such as Constable Slocum in _Bringing Up Baby_ and the
stage manager in _Yankee Doodle Dandy_.  Here's a photo:

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/j/Walter%20Catlett.jpg

Catlett did acknowledge in the article that he had taken many of his slang
terms from "the American Negro", so the Crimson reporter's claim that he
had "invented" these expressions is no doubt overstated.  The only one
that seems like it could have actually been coined (rather than
popularized) by Catlett is "So's your old man".


--Ben Zimmer