[Ads-l] Stix Nix Hix Pix

[Laurence Horn]

> On Jul 15, 2023, at 7:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Can't believe I misspelled the primal "STICKS" as "STIX."
> 
> But then Garson confused me with Larry. That makes me feel better.
> 
> JL

I noticed that too, but figured it was because yesterday was my birthday. I am large, I contain multitudes.  

Speaking of Pix, if not Hix Pix, one thing I wasn’t large enough to contain until this review

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/movies/final-cut-review.html

was the truncation “zom com”.  I wondered after reading it whether it denoted a zombie comedy or a zombie rom-com, depending on whether the zombie specifier replaces "romantic” or incorporates it, essentially as in “veggie burger” and “cheeseburger” respectively.  Apparently, judging by other information on the internet (and I confess I didn’t check ATNW, which probably lays it all out there), with specific reference to “Shaun of the Dead”, it can be either.

LH (not JL)
> 
> On Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 10:23 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Fun topic, LH. Here are citations for six versions of the headline.
>> This is a sampling of close matches. I have not tried to find the
>> earliest citations or the widest variety.
>> 
>> 1935: STICKS NIX HICK PIX
>> 1936: STIX NIX HICK PIX
>> 1937: STIX NIX HIX PIX
>> 1949: STIX NIX HICKS PIX
>> 1953: STICKS NIX HICKS PICS
>> 1955: STICKS NIX HIX PIX
>> 
>> Here are some of the citations.
>> 
>> [ref 1935 July 17, Variety, Volume 119, Number 5, (Front page
>> headline), Quote Page 1, Column 1, Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest)
>> [/ref]
>> 
>> [Begin headline]
>> STICKS NIX HICK PIX
>> NOT INTERESTED IN FARM DRAMA
>> [End Headline]
>> 
>> [ref] 1936 October, Word Study, Volume 12, Number 2, Variety of
>> Variety, Start Page 2, Quote Page 2 and 3, G. & C. Merriam Company,
>> Springfield, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=gL0_AQAAIAAJ&q=Stix#v=snippet&
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Perhaps the most famous instance of Variety’s new brand of English is
>> a headline that  appeared a year or so ago: Stix Nix Hick Pix. One may
>> puzzle over this for quite a while before discovering that it
>> signifies (in Mr. Green’s choice language) that “the bucolic belt
>> refuses to patronize mustang mellers, giddy-appers, horse operas, or
>> bronc pix [Western films that is], along with other rural themes.” The
>> 1929 debacle was translated in Variety as Wall Street Lays an Egg.
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> [ref 1937 January 6, Variety, Volume 125, Number 4, Radio: With Baker
>> Through Darkest Radio Gags by Phil Baker, Quote Page 136, Column 5,
>> Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest) [/ref]
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> And so with utmost reluctance, we pack gag and camera as we prepare to
>> leave the beautiful island of Kgnu. And our last thought as we pass
>> under the sheltering palms is STIX NIX HIX PIX.
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> [ref] 1949 April 8, The Bergen Evening Record, Remember?, Quote Page
>> 36, Column 2, Hackensack, New Jersey. (ProQuest) [/ref]
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> . . . but all most of us remember of “Variety” is that once, many
>> years ago, a copyreader trailing clouds of glory wrote the headline
>> “Stix Nix Hicks Pix”.
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Garson
>> 
>> On Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 11:50 AM Jonathan Lighter
>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> WikiP y notes that the celebrated _Variety_ headline was the less
>>> euphonious but slightly more idiomatic "Stix Nix Hick Pix" (July 17,
>> 1935).
>>> See https://variety.com/1935/film/news/sticks-nix-hick-pix-1117922332/
>>> 
>>> It doesn't mention, though, that the paper misquoted itself at least
>> twice:
>>> on Jan. 6, 1937 and on Dec. 22, 1937:
>>> 
>>> 
>> https://archive.org/details/variety125-1937-01/page/n135/mode/2up?q=%22stix+nix+hix+pix%22
>>> 
>>> <goog_619687204>
>>> 
>> https://archive.org/details/variety128-1937-12/page/n199/mode/2up?q=%22stix+nix+hix+pix%22
>>> 
>>> So it's quite correct to say that "_Variety_ published the line 'Stix Nix
>>> Hix Pix.'"  Heh heh. More importantly, perhaps, I found this out the
>>> old-fashioned way. Google Bard and Bing AI both came up short - though
>> Bard
>>> alone directed me the Variety website.
>>> 
>>> 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
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "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