"Thanks! I Needed That!"

[Karl Hagen]

I don't know if it's absolutely the first instance, but the locus
classicus is "The High and the Mighty" (1959) with John Wayne and Robert
Stack. It's the latter whose character utters the line after Wayne slaps
him.


On 8/21/2010 4:09 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I haven't researched this, and don't recall seeing anyone else discuss it.  The earliest I see on ProQuest is Los Angeles Times, Sep 25, 1969, where a slap is not specifically mentioned but the context is analogous.  Like Jon, I imagine this is older than 1969.
>
> Fred
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 6:27 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
>
> Anybody know the source of this allusion?  Allegedly it appeared in an old
> movie, the context being that fear is turning one character into a jelly
> blob. The hero slaps him once or twice and he's back to normal.
>
> I remember a TV commercial for God knows what (Aquavelva?) that used the
> phrase and the slap some forty years ago, but I'll swear I knew the allusion
> before that.
>
> Google Books was of no help.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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