[Ads-l] Stix Nix Hix Pix

Sat Jul 15 19:15:41 UTC 2023

Talk about your head in the clouds....

JL

On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 2:58 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> > 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
>

-- 
"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