like = 'It goes without saying that...not'

[Ben Zimmer]

Standalone "as if" was used in "Wayne's World" (1992).

Benjamin Kane: You didn't really think she'd end up with Wayne, did you?
Garth: As if.
Wayne: As if we'd end the movie like that. Yeah!
Garth: Let's do the scooby-doo ending.
Wayne: Good call.
Wayne and Garth: Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo!
Doodle-oo! Doodle-oo!

audio:
http://www.hark.com/waynes-world/you-didnt-really-think-shed-end-up-with-wayne-did-you

--bgz


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 9:43 PM, Tyler Schnoebelen wrote:
>
> I cruised around COCA and found these--prior to Clueless but not by a lot.
>
> From the film "This Boy's Life" (1993)...which was supposed to be based on
> Tobias Wolff's  relationship in the 1950s with his father.
> DWIGHT: So the S.O.B. had been on my back for a week at work, okay? Sayin' I
> stole his wrench, an' poured oil all over his tools, as if ! Anyway, he went
> just one step too far with old Dwight, okay? Spat on the floor as I walked
> by.
>
> From Firmani (1994) in the Kenyon Review:
> "And one guy, after being told this again and again, saw a white guy in a
> car stopped at the light and said, here's Bubba get me mine; and came back
> with a dollar to give us. As if ! And Driver finally shoved a sandwich into
> his hands saying keep yo' fuckin' dollar and get lost."
>
> From Cindy Pearlman in a 1994 Chicago Sun-Times article about Chicago in a
> holiday film:
> "Ask her one last question: Does she like Barney? " No, Barney is
> phony-acting. I watch' Melrose Place' and' The Simpsons.' " # 5. WHITE
> CHRISTMAS? Right, as if ."
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: like = 'It goes without saying that...not'
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> > This pattern has been discussed in a couple of papers.
>
> Tsk, OED, tsk.
>
> BTW, I associate "As if!" with the film _Clueless_ (1995) rather than with
> the original Valley Girl craze of a dozen years earlier.  It came in too
> late to achieve HDAS immortality.


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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