"call him George"/"call me Shorty" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Bow my legs and call me "bandy"! ["bangy-legged" = "bow-legged']

- catchphrase of Sheriff Mike Shaw of the old Tom Mix radio show,
During The War.

Lordy, Lordy!
Nineteen-forty!
Cut my legs and
Call me "Shorty"!

- version used down home in Texas, when I was but a tyke too young to
understand time.

-Wilson

On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 2:34 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "call him George"/"call me Shorty" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> This quote may be influential, and is earlier than _Of Mice and Men_.
>
> "Thinks Youth to Follow Saner Social Standards" _Springfield [MA]
> Republican_ 11/23/1928 p 2 col 3 [a wire article from London, dated
> 11/22]
>
> "Among other high points of his speech, Shaw wanted to know what would
> happen in the future when the king's ministers slap him on the shoulder
> and call him "George." "
> "He would have said he was unable to have that type for a colleague; one
> capable of slapping the king's back and calling him 'George.' "
> "The king will be confronted with Labor governments, the members of
> which will slap him on the back and call him 'George,' and they will
> want tomake him a puppet more completely than any aristocratic cabinet
> ever did."
>
> These lines come from a speech by George Bernard Shaw, and the "George"
> in question is King George V.  This speech was widely reported (I also
> found it in the NY Times), and since Shaw repeated the phrase several
> times, it may have been remembered by those who started the "love him
> squeeze him call him George" line.
>
> And another form of the "X my Y and call me Z" that I've heard is
> "pierce my ears and call me drafty".
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Benjamin Zimmer
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:08 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: "call him George"/"call me Shorty"
>>
>> ---------------------- 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:      "call him George"/"call me Shorty"
>>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> The latest Languagehat post (and followup comments) may be of interest
>> to
>> ADS-Lers:
>>
>> http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003787.php
>>
>>
>> --Ben Zimmer
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
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

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