[Ads-l] Fat Weddings

Sun Jun 4 18:05:24 UTC 2023

I’m not sure why “fat” is humorous in the movie title other than a description of “big”, but I didn’t see humor in #7 or #12, for example. Maybe I’m just missing out. BB

> On Jun 4, 2023, at 09:43, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> For as long as I can remember, "big, fat" has been a modifier for almost
> anything large, excessive, extravagant. etc., stronger than the synonymous
> "great big."
> 
> When Al Franken wrote "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" in 1996, it didn't
> even occur to me that he might be alluding to RL's weight (and I don't
> think he was).
> 
> "Big fat lie" is a common collocation.
> 
> 1844 Evening Transcript (Boston) (Aug. 29) 2: The Wheeling Times thinks
> that a strait [sic] forward liar, one that will tell a big, fat, plump lie,
> is an honest man.
> 
> 1872 Little Rock Daily Republican (Nov. 5) 2: It invents a lie, a big fat
> lie, and puts it out.  {The absence of the comma suggests that "big fat"
> was already regarded as a unitary phrase.]
> 
> Its appearance in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is humorous. The weddings are
> just big.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Sun, Jun 4, 2023 at 12:06 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> As far as I can recall, I never knew what “fat” meant in the movie "My Big
>> Fat Greek Wedding” though it seemed to indicate bounty; I think
>> “superabundance" is more apt, which is what the OED essentially says (#2
>> below).
>> 
>> Some of the citations below are just titles. It doesn’t seem like “fat” is
>> used much outside of this “(big) fat X wedding” to describe a “fat” wedding
>> perhaps because of social taboos around the word. There is also the
>> question of whether this snowclone is a fad that has run its course and has
>> become passé. There are citations below for 2021, 2022 and 2023, but as the
>> Greek movie fades over time, this snowclone may as well. Then again,
>> weddings are not part of people’s everyday life and so the snowclone may
>> endure as a fun way to break the social taboo on “fat” while referring to a
>> bountiful wedding.
>> 
>> FWIW I Googled for Greek, Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Jewish, and found
>> citations of each; surely there are many other variations to be found.
>> 
>> 1. Wikipedia has an article about the movie series that started in 2002 (
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Big_Fat_Greek_Wedding) and a sitcom
>> based on the movie series (
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Big_Fat_Greek_Life) but neither page
>> defines “fat.”
>> 
>> Wikipedia refers to the movie as a sleeper hit. When searching for fat
>> Greek wedding hits, the title often comes up without “Big."
>> 
>> 2. The most appropriate definition I see in the OED is:
>> 
>>        10. Well supplied with what is needful or desirable.
>>        10b. Of things: Abundant, plentiful; esp. of a feast, pasture,
>> etc. Also, Well-stocked.
>> 
>> 3. 20 years ago, Paul McFedries provides a transcript of a TV shown on the
>> Word of the Year on CBS Sunday Morning. The discussion was about Ron
>> Butters's ADS nomination of “grid butt” (evidently meaning buttocks with
>> lawn chair stripes or fishnet pantyhose) but it also has a quote of a woman
>> noting the snowclone status of “my big fat X.” I did not search for
>> variations not including the word “wedding."
>> 
>> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2003-January.txt
>> 
>> ###
>> Unidentified Woman #6: How about Botox Party?
>> 
>> Prof. GLOWKA: Botox Party is a fairly outrageous thing it seems to me. I'm
>> really, really fond of grid butt, which comes from an advertisement I think
>> sent to me by The Agios, marks left on buttocks by fishnet pantyhose...
>> 
>> (Footage of Glowka and others at seminar)
>> 
>> STRASSMANN: (Voiceover) The word can be funny...
>> 
>> Unidentified Woman #7: 'My big, fat' blank, based on "My Big Fat Greek
>> Wedding," so...
>> ###
>> 
>> 4. Episode name from _The Osbournes_: "My Big Fat Jewish Wedding"
>> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0761024/
>> Aired 11 Feb 2003
>> 
>> There is also a website for big fat Jewish weddings:
>> http://thebigfatjewishwedding.com/
>> 
>> 5. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/my-big-fat-irish-wedding-1.1039031
>> My big fat Irish wedding
>> 15 Apr 2006
>> 
>> 6. https://tinyurl.com/7xn6zd94
>> My (Friend’s) Big Fat Japanese Wedding
>> 18 Dec 2011
>> faustusnotes
>> 
>> 7. https://tinyurl.com/3njpr9cy
>> The growth of the 'big fat Chinese wedding’
>> Huey Fern Tay
>> 3 Oct 2012
>> 
>> 8. https://tinyurl.com/yvz83668
>> My Big Fat Irish Wedding - Daithi O Se on tying the knot
>> Daithí Ó Sé
>> 16 Jul 2012
>> 
>> 9. The expression “my low-fat Greek wedding” in the following recipe name
>> appears to just be creative fun as the blogpost doesn’t mention marriage or
>> weddings.
>> https://tinyurl.com/ycyyj73t
>> Terri Gilson
>> 3 Oct 2016
>> 
>> ###
>> My Low-Fat Greek Wedding Lasagna
>> ###
>> 
>> 10. https://tinyurl.com/32ujpj9y
>> _Unorthodox_ podcast episode title: "My Big Fat Jewish Wedding”
>> 30 Aug 2017
>> 
>> 11. https://tinyurl.com/5dde3zx2
>> #TBT: My Big Fat Chinese Wedding
>> That’s Shanghai
>> 28 Sep 2017
>> 
>> 12. https://tinyurl.com/yc2t49dx
>> Arushi Sakhuja
>> After 14 Feb 2021
>> 
>> ###
>> Netflix Celebrates Big Fat Indian Weddings With Their Latest Docu-Series,
>> The Big Day
>> ###
>> 
>> 13. https://tinyurl.com/3eh9nxs7
>> Matt Bryman
>> c. 2021
>> 
>> ###
>> My long time greek friends daughters wedding this saturday. This 1 I would
>> of loved to attend. Hoping after the fat greek wedding I can make it. Good
>> luck
>> ###
>> 
>> 14. https://tinyurl.com/veydma4w
>> The big fat Indian wedding is only getting bigger
>> 22 Feb 2022
>> ###
>> Through economic turbulence, social reform, modern technology, and even a
>> pandemic, the big fat Indian wedding is only getting bigger.
>> ###
>> 
>> 15. https://tinyurl.com/mt4myvtw
>> "LGBTQ Indians abroad watch a looming decision in the Indian Supreme Court
>> with high hopes “
>> Aditi Sangal
>> 4 Jun 2023
>> 
>> Today, CNN has an article in which interviewee Gupta (Rohit Dasgupta?)
>> uses the expression “big fat Indian wedding."
>> 
>> ###
>> “We had always wanted to do a big fat Indian wedding.
>> ###
>> 
>> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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