ADS-L Digest - 21 Sep 2008 to 22 Sep 2008 (#2008-267)

[Wilson Gray]

I remember "I shouda stood in bed" as a very common catch phrase on
radio shows based on ethnic comedy (e.g. "Life With Luigi, The Littl-a
Immigrant," though the phrase was being used long before that show
came on the air), but I had absolutely *no* idea what it meant nor
what was supposed to be funny about it. Why would anybody stand (up)
in a bed? And if somebody did do that, why would it be funny-haha as
opposed to being funny-weird?

*Years* later, when a fellow black member of of the Army Security
Agency Reserve told me, "Man, when I was stationed at Fort Polk (LA),
I STOOD in New Orleans," I finally understood the meaning of the
phrase. But, I still don't think that it's funny-haha.

(For any cineastes reading this, note that our C.O. was none other
than the legendary _Truman van Dyke_, Major, US ASA Reserve himself
["Since 1969, the Truman van Dyke Company has insured thousands of
feature films, television series, and documentaries."]).

-Wilson

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 12:51 AM, Your Name <ROSESKES at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Your Name <ROSESKES at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 Sep 2008 to 22 Sep 2008 (#2008-267)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In a message dated 9/23/2008 12:00:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU writes:
>
> In Saint  Louis, we never used "stood" as the past of "stay" (I didn't
> hear it in the  wild till I was thirty-ish, ca.1967),
>
>
>
> Interesting.  As a kid in central NYS, I often heard from the  older
> generation (esp. the less-educated and/or foreign-born - if I recall  correctly;
> that's what it seems like after 50 years): "I shoulda STOOD in  bed."  It was a
> common response to greetings like, "How are you today?" or  "How's your day
> going?", to mean that the speaker would have been better off if  he/she had STAYED
> in bed all day, not getting up at all.  I always  found the idea of someone
> standing in bed as a way to improve their life a  fascinating irony, cuz when I
> stood on a bed, I got yelled at!
>
> Rosemarie
>
> You fall the way you  lean.
>
>
>
>
> **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial
> challenges?  Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and
> calculators.      (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org