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

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 24, 2013, at 11:00 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> Slightly earlier than "Wayne's World":
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=cyCZS6zwFuMC&q=%22yeah+as+if%22
> Rick Hautala, _Cold Whisper_ (1991), p. 212
> Shaking his head, he turned back to his own work and whispered, "Well, it may be
> true, but I didn't write it."
> "Yeah, as if," Sarah said.

Or even earlier, in the ending of _The Sun Also Rises_ (1926):

“Oh, Jake,” Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time together.”
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
“Yeah, right” I said. “As if.”

OK, I admit, that's a new translation…

LH


>
>
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:40 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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