"Right back at you!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

And there's the recent national popularity of "Texas Hold 'Em."

JL

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Right back at you!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:51 AM -0400 5/4/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >A character in a recent movie says, "Right back at you, buddy!" I.e., "The
> >same to you!"
> >
> >I've heard this a few times, in both complimentary and uncomplimentary
> >senses.
> >
> >GB takes "Well, right back at you!" back (apparently) to 1926 in Texas,
> with
> >only one or two appearances until around 2000. when its popularity jumps.
> >Did Texan W make this famous?
> >
> >"Right back at you, buddy!" goes only to 2001 (in a book published in
> 2005).
> >Similar recent results for "...pal" and "...buster." and "...at you,
> you..."
> >
> I also associate it with poker playing, when one player raises and
> another re-raises "right back at ya".  The poker context would at
> least be a plausible vector, if the Texas origin is correct.
>
> LH
>
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