"I said to myself, 'Self...'"

[Carolyn S Lieberg]

I, too, recall this little narrative trick by Flip Wilson on his TV
show, along with "the devil made me do it."


Carolyn S Lieberg
503-284-4972
www.carolynlieberg.com




On Jan 27, 2006, at 12:05 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "I said to myself, 'Self...'" in "Moose Turd Pie"
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>
> "That's strange. I would have sworn ...," as the cliche goes. Flip and
> I shared a mutual friend, back in the day, though his share was
> somewhat more intimate than mine. ;-) Maybe it was something that she
> told me. Well, IAC, at this point, I'm going to withdraw my claim,
> saying only that, to the extent that I associate this bit with Flip,
> to that same extent, I don't associate it with Cosby.
>
> As fate would have it, I own the recordings, but only in the form of
> LP's, and I haven't had a way to play them for about twenty years.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 1/27/06, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "I said to myself, 'Self...'" in "Moose Turd Pie"
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> I, too, seem to remember Wilson using the phrase, but it would
>> have to have
>> been from his tv show, 1970-74.
>>
>> Sam Clements
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 1:35 PM
>> Subject: Re: "I said to myself, 'Self...'" in "Moose Turd Pie"
>>
>>
>>> On 1/26/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> The late, great Clerow Wilson Honey, AKA "Flip Wilson," was
>>>> using this
>>>> as a cathch phrase in the '60's.
>>>>
>>>> Cf.
>>>>
>>>> 1964. Pot Luck; Scepter Records SRM/SPS-520
>>>>
>>>> or the perhaps more-easily found
>>>>
>>>> 1968. Cowboys and Colored People; Atlantic Records AT 8149
>>>>
>>>> 1968. You Devil, You!; Atlantic Records AT 8179
>>>
>>> Wilson, I just listened to two or three hours' worth of Flip Wilson
>>> routines from his '60s recordings (everything I could find via
>>> file-sharing networks). Very entertaining, but not one example of
>>> "Self"-address. Is there a particular routine in which you remember
>>> him using the expression?
>>>
>>> A few people suggested Bill Cosby used it in his standup act in the
>>> '60s, but I came up empty when I checked his recordings too.
>>>
>>>
>>> --Ben Zimmer
>>>
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