What on Earth??

[Tom Zurinskas]

I remember "No soap. Radio" from a half-century ago.  It was the punchline of a fake joke in a group that made no sense.  Everyone in on it laughs like crazy, just to see what the mark who is not in on it will do.  Not a very nice gag unless the mark says "You're all dipshits - dialect of the day."

Which brings up the question, Does dialect change when catchphrases change?

Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk




>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: What on Earth??
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No soap, radio.
> DanG
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 3:14 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: What on Earth??
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >> Reminds me of those old papers by Georgia Green and/or Jerry Morgan that begin with a sentence that sounds like word salad out of context
> >
> > That reminds me of something that I heard recited by white
> > barracksmates when I was at the Army Language School, back in '60. It
> > went something like;
> >
> > Q. "Why a duck?'
> > A. "Because the moon."
> >
> > There was a string of such nonsensical question/answer pairs. IIRC,
> > this - or something like it - was said to have originated with
> > Groucho.
> >
> > A quick check with W:pedia shows this to be fact. So, perhaps,
> > everybody but me is more than familiar with this bit. As was the case
> > with a Cosby Show spinoff, "it's a different world."
> >
> > --
> > -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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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