"Right back at you!"

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "Right back at you!"
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>
> 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: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â 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". Â The poker context would at
>> least be a plausible vector, if the Texas origin is correct.
>>
>> LH
>>
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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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And there's the short form.

"Back atcha!

But, hasn't this expression been around since Jesus was in drawers?

--
-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

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