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

[Jonathan Lighter]

The kind of "problem" we're talking about might be defined as "an
objection."

OED lacks this sense (or nuance).

JL

On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 9:48 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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."
>


-- 
"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