Abbott and Costello routine

Scot LaFaive slafaive at GMAIL.COM
Tue Mar 10 21:15:09 UTC 2009


I'm wondering if young adults even know of the "Who's on first?" routine.

Scot


On 3/10/09, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Abbott and Costello routine
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 2:27 PM -0400 3/10/09, Bill Palmer wrote:
> >Good point.  I'm wondering if "Who's on first?" is more ageless.
> >
>
> Isn't that the echt A&C routine?  Or is the idea that people are
> familiar with the "Who's on first?" routine but don't know that it's
> Abbott and Costello?  I find that hard to believe, but I'm probably
> just showing my age (again).
>
> LH
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Scot LaFaive" <slafaive at GMAIL.COM>
> >To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 2:15 PM
> >Subject: Abbott and Costello routine
> >
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> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Scot LaFaive <slafaive at GMAIL.COM>
> >>Subject:      Abbott and Costello routine
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>"What is this, an Abbott and Costello routine/skit/bit?"
> >>
> >>First of all, how prevalent is this for describing a confusing, circular
> >>conversation? (I get about 40 google hits.)
> >>Second, is this a dying expression with future generation's inevitably
> >>forgetting about Abbott and Costello save their names?
> >>
> >>Scot
> >>
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