Million Dollar Question

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

The $64 question was the top-paying question on a radio show in the 1940s, as I am sure Larry knows (but probably was not a contestant on).
------Original Message------
From: Laurence Horn
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Million Dollar Question
Sent: May 26, 2010 2:05 PM

At 1:33 PM -0400 5/26/10, victor steinbok wrote:
>Has anyone ever analyzed the variations in the "That's an/the X Dollar
>Question"? I just heard a reporter say, "That's a hundred billion
>dollar question", in reference to some NYC board approval or
>disapproval of the downtown Islamic Center. I can unequivocally say
>that this is the /largest/ figure I have ever heard associated with
>the phrase. The inflation of the figures in this phrase does sound a
>lot like the evolution of Dr. Evil ransom demands in Austin Powers.
>
>VS-)
>
When growing up, I recall becoming aware of the generational
distinction between those (like my parents) for whom that (whatever
that was) was "the $64 question" and those (like myself, in the era
of the eponymous, and later infamous, TV quiz show) for whom that was
"the $64,000 question".  Talk about inflation!

LH

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


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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