"Tell me something good!"

[victor steinbok]

Well, this might have been a late accidental pickup, but one of my
college/grad-school advisors--who's a Brooklyn/CCNY-educated Jew, now
in his late 70s--used to start research group meetings with, "Nu? Tell
me something good."

VS-)

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 6:54 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> When would one use "Tell me something good"?
>
> It's a Texas thing. You wouldn't understand. :-(
>
> But, seriously:
>
> WG: Hi, Tom! Tell me something good!
>
> TZ. Hi, Wil! What's up with you?"
>
> You use it whenever you want to,as a form of greeting. The person to
> whom "Tell me..." is said is not obligated to make any sensible or
> relevant response at all. It's simply a greeting, very like unto
> _Hi!_.
>
> OTOH, an old Army buddy from Munday, TX, tells me that, out his way, a
> common response is,
>
> "Don't start me lying!"
>
> or
>
> "I'd have to lie to you,"
>
> or some such.
>
> These are likewise merely random replies, despite the implication that
> the speaker has nothing good to tell, unless he lies about his
> circumstances. Of course, as is always the case in human interaction,
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> --
> -Wilson

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