[Ads-l] awesome sauce!

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nothing gets past Barry Popik.

As a further point of info for language historians of the 34th century,
"What's the story?" is commonly used (at least in the NYC area) to mean,
specifically, "What exactly is the truth about the situation you know I'm
alluding to?"

Characters in Tom Wolfe's 1987 novel, _The Bonfire of the Vanities_
frequently say "Fuhgeddiboudit!"

120,000 raw G-hits.

JL

On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 3:31 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: awesome sauce!
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 9:37 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >
> > > That was Paul Johnston, not me.  I've never heard anyone use "What's
> your
> > > story?" as a greeting.
> > >
> > > However, back in the '70s there was a frequently aired TV commercial
> for a
> > > local merchant (perhaps of electronics) whose pitchman was a burly
> > > construction-worker type in a hard hat. The commercials would begin
> with a
> > > chorus of strongly accented N'Yawkers inquiring, "Hey, Charlie! What's
> the
> > > story???"
> > >
> > > Charlie would give his spiel about low prices, always ending with "And
> > > that's the story!"
> >
> >
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/whats_the_story_jerry_jge_forget_about_it_tops_appliance_city
>
> Here's a 1974 radio ad:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIKyB8Ufh7Q
>
> Jerry then went into the disco business?!
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZ7EyYWAZg
>
> A commenter on Barry's site notes an earlier appearance in the 1970
> movie "Lovers and Other Strangers." ("So, what's the story, Richie?"
> is a recurring line from Richie's father Frank.)
>
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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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