Want I should?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Aug 13, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Dennis Preston wrote:

> Except that "Nov shmoz kapop?" isn't Polish.

sure isn't.  see my Language Log posting

   http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004015.html

on catch phrases from comic strips:

According to this website, Nov shmoz ka pop? comes from Gene Ahern's
strip The Squirrel Cage:

The protagonist of The Squirrel Cage (which was first seen on Sunday,
June 21, 1936) was a little hitchhiker referred to only as "The
Little Hitchhiker". He had a long, white beard, wore an enormous tam
on his head, and covered his body with a black smock or overcoat (the
beard got in the way of knowing for sure)...

The little hitchhiker would get into strange little adventures by
standing beside the road, his thumb out, uttering phrases in some
incomprehensible language, a few of which were translated but most
not. The most frequent of them, "Nov shmoz ka pop?" (never
translated), etched itself into the American consciousness to the
point where, to this very day, many people still wonder how that
silly thing ever got into their heads.

[the website:  http://www.toonopedia.com/squirrlc.htm ]

it's a joke, son.

arnold

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