paranoid

[Tom Zurinskas]

> > I WISH I COULD BE WHAT I WAS WHEN I WISHED I COULD BE WHAT I AM

Looks like he became what he wished for and would rather go back to before.  So the old moral, "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it." Or perhaps the state of being wishful is better than the state of being not.


Tom Zurinskas, first Ct 20 yrs, then Tn 3, NJ 33, Fl 9.
Learn the alphabet and sounds of US English at justpaste.it/ayk












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> Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 12:35:22 -0400
> From: wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: paranoid
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: paranoid
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >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
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Ben Zimmer
> > 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."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org