"on the same page" / "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."

[Dave Wilton]

It was well established in military/national security circles long before
"Top Gun."

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Baker, John
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 12:15 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "on the same page" / "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."

        As Barry pointed out, popular use of "I could tell you, but then
I'd have to kill you," and its variants, seems to derive from its 1986
use in Top Gun.  But I remember hearing it earlier; it was a particular
favorite of a college friend of mine, which means a date no later than
1981, when I graduated.  I don't know what his source was, but I doubt
that he made it up.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 11:50 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "on the same page" / "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."

Wolf Blitzer wonders if the U.S. and Iraqi governments "are on the same
page" in their strategy.  OED seems to lack an entry for this
fantastically widespread cliche'.

  "If I tell you, I('ll) have to kill you," is recent humorous catch
phrase.  The earliest version I can find at the moment is the tagline
from the 1992 film,
Sneakers_[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/taglines]: "We could tell
you what it's about. But then, of course, we'd have to kill you."

  On Jan. 10, 1993, comes this, quoting Episode 11 of the TV series,
_Flying Blind_
[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.tv/msg/f6caf52480d5b4c6] :

  On first meeting Alicia's father.
Neil: What do you do?
Dad : If I tell you, I have to kill you.

  This episode is said to have been broadcast Nov. 22, 1992
[http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0103415/epcast ].

  JL

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