[Ads-l] "What do you mean we, paleface / white man / kemo sabe?" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

I heard this as "mouse in your pocket," also in the (late) 70s.

JL

On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 12:09 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC
AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
>
> > ----
> >
> > In an Oct. 2010 "On Language" column about the presumptuous use of "we,"
> I discussed both "What do you mean 'we,' paleface/kemo
> > sabe?" (citing the
> > 1956 L.A. Times example that Bill brought up) and "We? You got a
> mouse/rat/etc. in your pocket?"
> >
> > https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/magazine/03FOB-onlanguage-t.html
> >
> > See this 2009 ADS-L thread for more:
> >
> >
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2009-October/thread.html#93505
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 9:02 AM Ben Yagoda <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Another variation was a favorite comeback of my college buddy Bob
> > > Zaglin, back in the ‘70s.
> > >
> > > Me: What are we gonna do now?
> > >
> > > Zag: You got a rat in your pocket?
>
>
> The ADS-L thread linked by Ben makes reference to "a turd in your
> pocket."  That's what a former co-worker used to say.
>
>
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Date:    Mon, 3 Jun 2019 05:17:34 +0000
> > > > From:    Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject: Re: "What do you mean we, paleface / white man / kemo sabe?"
> > > >
> > > >> Could Bridwell have written the joke for the LA Times? I think he
> > > >> was
> > > still
> > > >> living in Oklahoma at the time, and I have no sense of what he was
> > > writing
> > > >> then, and where he was submitting it.
> > > >
> > > > He didn't write it for this particular quote -- it was from a column
> > > > called "Cityside" written by Gene Sherman.  The column was widely
> > > syndicated, and it
> > > > ran in Bridwell's home newspaper, the _Daily Oklahoman_ on
> 12/12/1956.
> > > >
> > > > It seems far more likely that Bridwell read the joke and rewrote it
> > > > for
> > > Mad.
> > > > We know that Bridwell read this particular Oklahoma paper because he
> > > > had
> > > assorted
> > > > Letters to the Editor published in it on 8/8/1954, 5/15/1955, and
> > > 6/30/1964.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society -
> > > > Caution-http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Date:    Mon, 3 Jun 2019 02:16:26 -0400
> > > > From:    ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject: Re: "What do you mean we, paleface / white man / kemo sabe?"
> > > >
> > > > Here is another citation in 1956 that appeared about a month after
> > > > the citation Bill found. Arthur Godfrey broadcast the joke on his
> > > > morning television program. (The text is ambiguous; he also hosted a
> > > > radio
> > > > program.)
> > > >
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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