"That bites the big one!"

[Wilson Gray]

This was spoken by a female, college-student character in a movie from
1999. This was the first time that I've heard anyone say that since I
got out of the Army in 1962.

I heard "That bites!" while in the military and since then. I've
always assumed that the latter is a clip of the former, for no better
reason than that it's "obvious." In the military, we also used, "That
bites the meat" and "… bites the green wienie!" And I've always
considered all of these to be variants of one another for the usual
reason: it's "obvious."

I hadn't heard any of these before I joined the Army in 1959. But, of
course, there were hundreds of expressions that I heard first and used
last in the Army, including terminology, jargon, and slang.

It all just depends, I think. For example, on TV, I've heard many
references to a game(?) called "marco polo" that's played only(?) in
swimming pools. It's assumed that the audience gets these references.
I don't get the references. By coincidence, I've never heard a single
reference to marco polo anywhere except on the tube.

Another one is the game of "I spy." I know this game quite well as a
trivially-distinct variant of hide-and(-go)-seek. In movies and on TV,
it seems to be a kind of guessing game.

Youneverknow.

--
-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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