better with each passing day (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Though this thread is *clearly* off-topic, I, for one, have thoroughly
enjoyed reading it. I'm well aware that several former contributors
have quit the scene because of the site's lack of academic rigor and
others are annoyed. Well, as we say in BE and possibly also in SE,
"Sad *on* them!" As they supposedly say/said in KC, but not in StL,
"I'm down wit' it an jus' cain' quit it."

Go 'head, ADS-L!

For my part, though the phrase has no kind of generality that I'm
aware, I fondly recall Jenny Agutter as "(White) Girl" annoyedly
addressing David Gulpilil as "Aborigine," as though he was her
personal manservant,

"We're *English* and *we* want *water*!"

in the Australian movie, _Walkabout_.

Her posture, demeanor, and tone of voice spoke volumes. The white
man's attitude toward inferior races in a single sentence! Absolutely
magnificent! She may have been lost in the got-dam desert without a
fuckin' clue, but she still retained her sense of status as overlord
forced to deal with a brain-dead "living machine." Oscar-worthy, IMO.

But it gives one hope for the future, since summa y'all clearly "have
a good understanding" and realize that it isn't always the case that
it's we _Untermenschen_ who are the ones copping an attitude.
--
-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


On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 5:51 PM, Jeff Prucher <jprucher at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jeff Prucher <jprucher at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: better with each passing day (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>
>> >
>> > I saw Casablanca the other  day, for the first time in years. And I was
>> > blown away, again, and for  the umpteenth time. Every line gets better
>> > every time I hear it. Even  the lines that aren't in the movie, like
>> > "play it again, Sam." Has any  movie shaped the language more than
>> > Casablanca? When was the last time  that a classic movie, the locus
>> > classicus of dozens of phrases and  idioms, was made?
>>
>> I think you could make a strong case for  Caddyshack.  Yes, it's not as
>> good a movie (Casablanca is pretty much  the best movie.)  But for a big
>> chunk of my generation of American  males, no other movie is as quotable
>> and quoted as Caddyshack.  I, and  many of my friends, have memorized big
>> pieces of this movie.  We didn't  do so intentionally -- it's just that
>> the movie holds up to repeated watching  of snippets:  as you channel
>> surf, if you land on Caddyshack you will  stay a while.  And as you
>> watch, lines of dialog will stick with you in  ways that many other
>> movies  don't.
>
> In terms of lexemes, rather than idioms or quotations, one shouldn't overlook
> Star Wars (the original one), which gave us droid, Jedi (Knight), arguably dark
> side (as in "go over to the"), "star wars" itself (referring to the SDI), death
> star (AT&T's logo), and most likely a few more, like escape pod, which are
> mainly used in science fiction.
>
> For me, the locus classicus of movie quotes is Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
> woefully omitted from the AFI list due to flagrant nationalism. My entirely
> unscientific impression is that Holy Grail is the move I hear quoted most, other
> than (possibly) Casablanca. (But this likely reflects who I hang out with, or at
> least eavesdrop upon, more than anything else.)
>
> Jeff
>
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