"Tell me something good!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

A variant - also from Texas IME - is "What do you know that's good?"

JL

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 7:20 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Tell me something good!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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