"You got a mouse (etc.) in your pocket?"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Probably of little interest, but the one and only time I heard this
expression was in 1974 from a fellow graduate student. He was from El
Dorado, Ark., and had learned the phrase in the '60s - IIRC.

JL

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 1:11 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      "You got a mouse (etc.) in your pocket?"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I can't find anything about this expression in the usual references.
> Here's an example from the article "A Mouse in the Pocket" by Curt
> Johnson (1966), _College Composition and Communication_ 17(5):222-224:
>
> ---
> Instructor: "Today we will examine Eliot's relation to the
> Symbolists." Student: "We? You got a mouse in your pocket?"
> ---
>
> Urban Dictionary has "mouse in your pocket":
>
> ---
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mouse%20in%20your%20pocket
> Similar to "the royal we" but less condescending. Usually a retort
> when someone volunteers you to do something without asking you first.
> ---
>
> ...as well as "turd in your pocket":
>
> ---
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=turd%20in%20your%20pocket
> When someone tries to include you in a "we" that you don't feel part
> of, the traditional response is "We? What do you mean, we? Do you have
> a turd in your pocket?" Translates as semi-funny emphatic rejection of
> false or forced collectivism. (My "do you have a mouse in your
> pocket?" is the cleaned-up version of the old rhetorical rejection of
> the false "we.")
> ---
>
> Other variants include "rat" and "frog". It's also possible to inquire
> about a "mouse in your purse."
>
> Any insight into the age and regional distribution of the expression?
> And is "mouse" really a euphemism for "turd", as the Urbandictionary
> contributor claims?
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
Platypus"

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