"Don=?windows-1252?Q?=92t_?=let the door hit you in the butt on the way out"

Sun Nov 4 17:21:54 UTC 2012

Here are some results from a preliminary search. In 1966 a country
music song recorded by the artist Norma Jean was released that used a
version of the saying that included the word "doorknob". I do not know
if Jean wrote the song. Nor do I know when it was created.

Cite 1966 November 19, Billboard, Hot Country Singles Chart, Page 74,
Billboard Publishing Company, New York. [Today: Nielsen Business
Media, Inc.]
http://books.google.com/books?id=eA8EAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Doorknob+Hit%22#v=snippet&

[Data from Billbooard magazine]
Hot Country Singles for Week Ending 11/19/1966

DON'T LET THAT DOORKNOB HIT YOU
Norma Jean, RCA Victor 8989 (Acclaim, BMI)

Position on chart: 70
Weeks on the chart: 1
[End data from Billboard magazine]

YouTube has a version of the song above that was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald.
Ella Fitzgerald - Don't Let That Doorknob Hit You Goin' Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64-06EK9YQ

The website songlyrics.com has a version of the lyrics. I have not
attempted to verify these lyrics with a Norma Jean recording. The
lyrics sung by Ella Fitzgerald are similar but differ in several
places:
 http://www.songlyrics.com/norma-jean/don-t-let-that-doorknob-hit-you-1967-lyrics/

[Begin excerpt]
For a long, long time now just about every night
You’ve found some excuse not to hold me tight
No matter what I do you sit and pout
Don’t let that doorknob hit you going out

Don’t let that doorknob hit you going out honey
Other’s lips now thrill you there’s no doubt
There’s no burden like the love you make me live without
Don’t let that doorknob hit you going out

I’d lay awake night till two or three
So near to you but you’re so far from me
The battle’s done you’ve won the final bout
Don’t let that doorknob hit you going out

Don’t let that doorknob hit you going out honey
Other’s lips now thrill you there’s no doubt
There’s no burden like the love you make me live without
Don’t let the doorknob hit you going out
Don’t let the doorknob hit you going out
[End excerpt]

Circa 1973 the movie director and novelist Melvin Van Peebles included
a version of the saying with "doorknob" in one of his books. This
version also incorporated the subphrase "where the good lord split
you". It did not include a negation. Of course, this version may have
been in circulation long before the 1973 publication date and the 1966
song. Wilson may be able to give a date for when he first heard a
version of this type.

Cite: 1973, Aint Supposed to Die a Natural Death, by Melvin Van
Peebles, GB Page 32, Bantam Books, Toronto, New York. (Google Books
snippet; Not verified on paper; Data may be inaccurate; WorldCat
agrees with date)
http://books.google.com/books?id=2SqxAAAAIAAJ&q=split#search_anchor

[Begin extracted text]
LET THE DOORKNOB HIT YOU WHERE THE GOOD LORD SPLIT YOU
[End extracted text]

In 1977 the English Professor Geneva Smitherman recorded the phrase in
"Talkin and Testifyin". This version did not include the word
"doorknob" but did include the subphrase "where the good Lord split
you".

Cite: 1977, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America by
Geneva Smitherman, Appendix A, Quote Page 245, Houghton Mifflin,
Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Preview)

[Begin excerpt]
Let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. (nasty command to
leave, euphemism of "split you" avoiding profanity)
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 10:25 AM,  <sclements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sclements at NEO.RR.COM
> Subject:      =?utf-8?Q?Re:_RE:_"Don=E2=80=99t_let_the_door_hit?=
>               =?utf-8?Q?_you_in_the_butt_on_the_way_out"?=
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've always assumed it was used by a person throwing an obnoxious guest of of his house, and (possibly) slamming the door closed behind the obnoxious one, telling him to leave and be quick about it or the door will hit you in the ass.
>
> sam clements
>
> ---- "Baker wrote:
>> Yes, it should mean "leave quickly," and that is the apparent intent.  However, screen doors normally open outward, with a spring to bring the door closed after someone walks through the doorway.  When the screen door closes, therefore, you would be in danger of being hit in the butt only if you were walking into the building, not leaving.
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Barrett
>> Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 6:47 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: "Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out"
>>
>> So it means "leave quickly." Thank you. I wonder how many other people don't get that.
>>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA
>>
>> On Nov 3, 2012, at 3:42 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Have you ever walked out through a screen door on a spring hinge? You
>> > have to walk out pretty quickly to avoid having it hit you...
>> >
>> > DanG
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 5:55 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>> >
>> >> I think I would say the standard form I know is "Don't let the door
>> >> hit you on the way out." I didn't rip that off of anyone. It's
>> >> something I have heard for as long as I can remember.
>> >>
>> >> Although I understand it means "Scram and don't return," I've never
>> >> understood the imagery, so I don't use it. It seems to be some sort
>> >> of sarcasm, implying that even the door wants to get rid of you so
>> >> bad, that it's prepared to hit the person in the behind.
>> >>
>> >> The expression that Wilson provides doesn't elucidate the imagery at
>> >> all for me.
>> >>
>> >> Benjamin Barrett
>> >> Seattle, WA
>> >>
>> >> On Nov 3, 2012, at 2:42 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>> Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc., wrote thus.
>> >>>
>> >>> Y'all, the expression is,
>> >>>
>> >>> "Don't let the screendoor hit you
>> >>> Where the good Lord split you"
>> >>>
>> >>> See there? It make since! <har! har!>  Iss the punchline of a whole
>> >>> lot of traditional jokes referencing, e.g. a preacher downing
>> >>> congregants walking out on his sermon, If y'all are going to rip us
>> >>> off, *please* get it right. It ain't really no need for to half-ass
>> >>> black oral tradition into incoherence!
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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