[Ads-l] chickens and chainsaws, you got a problem with that?

[Jonathan Lighter]

It seems equally counterintuitive for the presumably underlying phrase,
"have no problem with" to be unattested before the 1960s.

The earliest OED ex. of that phr. is from the L.A. Times in 1966.  Their
earliest "You got a problem with that?" is from as late as 2000, subsumed
under the former.

JL


On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 9:01 PM Towse <my.cache at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would imagine "You got a problem with that?" might at least go back to
> the 70s. ref The Nixon Tapes 1971-1972, when Kissinger responds to Nixon,
> "I have no problem with that."
>
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=tSROBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT610&dq=%22problem+with+that%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB8vqy66HkAhV_GDQIHXD8D2M4ZBDoATACegQIARAR#v=onepage&q=%22problem%20with%20that%22&f=false
>
> On Mon, Aug 26, 2019, 3:49 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Interesting topic, JL. The phrase "You got a problem with that?" does
> > sound much older than the 1980s to my ear, so this 1983 citation is
> > probably antedatable. Nevertheless, the dialectical spelling might
> > help other searchers formulate queries.
> >
> > Date: September 9, 1983
> > Newspaper: The Latrobe Bulletin
> > Newspaper Location: Latrobe, Pennsylvania
> > Article: Bulletin Crystal Ball
> > Quote Page 10, Column 3
> > Database: Newspapers.com
> >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/image/448961876/?terms=gotta
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > And speaking of position, Cipicchio, thanks to the first letter of his
> > name, is in position No. 1 on the chart as Week No. 2 opens.
> >
> > "I'm gonna be the rabbit in dis race," remarked the chunky scribe.
> > "I'm gonna be da rabbit. You gotta problem with dat?"
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > I checked Barry Popik's website for "problem with that" and "problem
> > with dat" and the matches were not germane.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 5:47 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Last week former Obama adviser Van Jones ventured that something or
> other
> > > was "like juggling chickens and chainsaws in an earthquake."
> > >
> > > 2007
> > > https://www.resilience.org › stories › peak-oil-oct-10
> > > <https://www.resilience.org/stories/2007-10-10/peak-oil-oct-10/> :
> > > So they keep juggling chickens and chainsaws and hope it works out just
> > > like most of us everyday at work.
> > >
> > > II
> > >
> > > "You got a problem with that?" One might have thunk that the sarcastic
> > > question was eons old.   Apparently not. It seems to have become
> popular
> > > only about 25 years ago. The earliest I find:
> > >
> > > 1985 L.A. Times (Sept. 19) B-16: I don't run if it's over 75 degrees.
> ...
> > > If you got a problem with that, talk to my dad.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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