Fun with phrases

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Don't *be* that person!"

= 'Don't be that kind of person' and/or 'Don't find yourself in that
unpleasant situation.'

1985 Cheryl Reimold _The Woman's Guide to Staying Safe_ (N.Y.: Monarch
Press) 38:   Would-be burglars often ring many apartments until
someone foolishly lets them in — don't be that person.

Many, many over the past few years.  I can recall a magazine article
of the early '90s advising, "Don't be that dude!" (I.e., "Don't dress
or behave that way, chaps, if you wish to impress innumerable
nymphets.")

I've also heard, in self-reproach, "I don't want to be that person!"
(i.e., that sort of unpleasant person).

JL


On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fun with phrases
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As you'd expect from Mr. Clean.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 6:09 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Fun with phrases
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "Mr. Clean is tackling the mess like some kind of mess-tackler!"
>>
>> --
>> -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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>
>
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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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--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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