"stuck on stupid"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 17:12:23 -0500, Mullins, Bill wrote:

>Lt. Gen Russell Honore recently told some reporters not to get "stuck
>on stupid", a phrase which is growing through the blogosphere and
>elsewhere.  Look for it to show up more.  This is classic Honore --
>direct and to the point.

This is one of Honore's favorite expressions...

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9177884/
MSNBC, 9/2/05
"This is a disaster," says Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. "This isn't something
somebody can control. We ain't stuck on stupid."
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0909/p01s01-usmi.html
Christian Science Monitor, 9/9/05
At a recent staff meeting here at Camp Shelby, he growled, "We're not
stuck on stupid." It became the saying of the day, written on a bulletin
board.
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http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/honore909
Black America Web, 9/9/05
"We're not stuck on stupid," the tough-talking, three-star general told
BlackAmericaWeb.com. "We know what we're doing."
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But this time it's clearly stuck.

>The earliest I find it in ProQuest is in a 1996 headline from the
>Michigan Chronicle (an African American newspaper).  Most of the other
>cites are also from Black sources (Chicago Defender, Afro-American Red
>Star, etc.).

>From 1992:

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1992, p. 1A (Nexis)
"This country has been SOS for 12 years, and by that I mean Stuck On
Stupid," said Knies, a computer programmer downtown, who lives in Ballwin.
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--Ben Zimmer