Abbott and Costello routine

David Bowie db.list at PMPKN.NET
Wed Mar 11 14:38:21 UTC 2009


From:    Scot LaFaive <slafaive at GMAIL.COM>
> On 3/10/09, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> 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).

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

(Switching from mixed-method replies to all bottom-posting.)

Most of my traditional-age students seem to know enough of the joke to
smirk at the occasional reference to it, though i don't know if they
know either the whole routine or that it was A&C, or for that matter if
they even know enough of the routine to know more than the fact that
it's a *reference* to a joke.

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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