possible antedate of indiscriminative "whatever"?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Jul 20, 2006 at 04:08:25PM -0400, Laurence Horn wrote:
> Consider this dialogue from the last ensemble scene in the fourth of
> the "Thin Man" movies.  Stevens, one of the miscreants, is trying to
> maintain his alibi for the time of the murder, despite his visit to
> the victim's apartment.
>
> Lt. Abrams:  "In case you want to deny it, I can get the cab driver
> who took you there."
> Stevens:  "Whatever. That was four hours before Rainbow was killed."
>
> "Shadow of the Thin Man", 1941

[...]

> Jesse, what sayest thou?

It looks pretty solid to me. I'm trying to find a reason to
dismiss it, but can't.

JTS

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