"How ADJ is that?" (1970)

[Wilson Gray]

Yes. Quite so. I agree. You are correct, sir! ;-)

-Wilson


On 2/20/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "How ADJ is that?" (1970)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 2:19 AM -0500 2/20/06, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >The expressions "How fine is that?" and "How bad is that?" were in
> >common use among white GI's as far back as 1959. It's too bad that
> >there weren't portable tape-recorders available at the time to record
> >such expressions in the wild, just in case that someone might wonder
> >about them a half-century later! ;-)
> >
> >-Wilson
>
> Just thought it worth noting that one key part of this construction,
> with this particular use, is the stress on "THAT", and another is the
> falling intonation at the end.
>
> Larry
>
> >
> >On 2/20/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      Re: "How ADJ is that?" (1970)
> >>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  On 2/20/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >>  > A few months ago there was a query on the alt.usage.english newsgroup
> >>  > about the rhetorical question "How ADJ is that?" used to mean "That's
> >>  > very ADJ." It was pegged as a '90s expression, perhaps popularized by
> >>  > "Seinfeld" or another TV show.
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_frm/thread/b9aa704c07e978d4/
> >>  >
> >>  > But here it is from 1970, in a passage from Jim Bouton's _Ball Four_
> >>  > (also notable for the use of "greenie" = 'pep pill'):
> >>  >
> >>  > -----
> >>  > [Gary] Bell is a funny man.... He's got an odd way of talking. Instead
> >>  > of saying, "Boy, that's funny," he'll wrinkle up his face and say,
> >>  > "How funny is that?"
> >>  > Or he'll say, "How fabulous are greenies?" (The answer is very.
> >>  > Greenies are pep pills -- dextroamphetamine sulfate -- and a lot of
> >>  > baseball players couldn't function without them.)
> >>  > (p. 81 of 1990 Wiley edition)
> >>  > http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0020306652/
> >>  > -----
> >>
> >>  Here's a later example from ballplayer talk:
> >>
> >>  -----
> >>  Los Angeles Times, Aug 22, 1979, p. E2
> >>  "He didn't like the way I ran onto the field," says [Dave] Kingman.
> >>  "Now, how asinine is that?"
> >>  [HNP Doc ID 652276122]
> >>  -----
> >>
> >>  > Bouton presents this as idiosyncratic usage, so was it simply
> >>  > percolating for two decades before its '90s popularization? A cursory
> >>  > database search finds "How cool is that?" in the relevant sense from
> >>  > 1985, in a column by Washington Post sports columnist Tony Kornheiser:
> >>  >
> >>  > -----
> >>  > Washington Post, Oct 11, 1985, p. F1
> >>  > Fourth and goal from the one. Dynastic Green Bay left with one last
> >>  > play, trailing, 17-14. The NFL's most celebrated team coached by its
> >>  > most celebrated man, and the quarterback bops into the huddle taking
> >>  > requests. Now, how cool is that?
> >>  > -----
> >>
> >>
> >>  --Ben Zimmer
> >>
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