paranoid

[Jonathan Lighter]

>I thought this one canonically went "...I'm schizophrenic, and so am
I."

That is precisely the wording I heard in the spring or summer of 1967 or
'68. I remember it distinctly because at the time I thought it was about the
funniest thing I'd ever heard.

It was displaced (ca1982?) by the T-shirt (with the pointing finger) that
said, "I'm with Stupid."

JL

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 11:47 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: paranoid
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > At 11:18 AM -0400 5/16/11, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> >>Cite: 1967 July 21, Christianity Today, Dear Slogan-Lovers by Etychus
> >>III, Page 20, Christianity Today International, Carol Stream,
> >>Illinois. (Verified on microfilm)
> >>
> >>When it comes to expressing their views on life, they say by button:
> >>"I Want to Be What I Was When I Wanted To Be What I Now Am,"
> >
> > I remember spotting a different version of this one in 1972 in the
> > form of a pithy [sorry] men's room graffito:
> >
> > I WISH I COULD BE WHAT I WAS
> > WHEN I WISHED I COULD BE WHAT I AM
> >
> >>  or
> >>"Neuroses Are Red, Melancholy Is Blue, I'm Schizophrenic, What Are
> >>You?,"
>
> I thought this one canonically went "...I'm schizophrenic, and so am
> I." Or perhaps that was a later variation, changing the expected rhyme
> as a rug-pulling technique (a la "Shaving Cream").
>
> >> or "End Poverty, Give Me $10." They further advise: "Reality Is
> >>Good Sometimes for Kicks But Don't Let It Get You Down," and "Even
> >>Paranoids Have Real Enemies."
>
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>



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