Who are you and what have you done with...

[Jeff Prucher]

--- "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Who are you and what have you done with...
>
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>
> On Sep 22, 2007, at 10:06 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
>
> > My recollection suggests that the next word in the formula may be
> > "Professor," and my guess is it's from a '40s or '50s film - or a
> > _Twilight Zone_ / _Outer Limits_ episode.
>
> i was hoping it would be from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but i
> don't find it in the memorable quotes list.
>
> by the way, there are straightforward uses of "who are you and what
> have you done with X" -- just a sequence of two questions, without
> the impostor twist.
>
> arnold

I'm almost certain it's not from "(Invasion of) the Body Snatchers", at least
not the book or first film adaptation. I read the novel and screenplay (and
horrible "fotonovella" tie-in) and watched the film recently while doing
research into the origin of "pod person" (summary of my findings: they didn't
use it), and I don't recall reading/hearing "who are you and" etc.). Plus, I
can't think of any scenes where it would have made sense to say it.

Jeff Prucher

Editor, Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction
http://www.jeffprucher.com



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