"Right back at you!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

You mean like, "Don't stand there! Do something!"?

JL

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 2:24 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Right back at you!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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!"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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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> >>
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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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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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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