[Ads-l] "...would you hold it against me?"

[Ben Zimmer]

The old pick-up line "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it
against me?" is often attributed to Groucho Marx from his time hosting "You
Bet Your Life." Stereogum writer Tom Breihan recently made that attribution
in a column about the 2011 Britney Spears song "Hold it Against Me," though
he acknowledged he couldn't find any evidence of Groucho using the line.

https://www.stereogum.com/2234566/the-number-ones-britney-spears-hold-it-against-me/columns/the-number-ones/

As Breihan notes, David Bellamy, who wrote the 1979 country song "If I Said
You Have a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me" for the Bellamy
Brothers, recalled picking up the line from "You Bet Your Life," according
to the Wikipedia page for the song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Said_You_Have_a_Beautiful_Body_Would_You_Hold_It_Against_Me

I don't know how accurate Bellamy's memory is, but versions of the line
predate Groucho's hosting of "You Bet Your Life" (on radio 1947-50, on TV
1950-61). And I don't see any attribution to Groucho before 1979, the year
the Bellamy Brothers song came out.

Here are a few early cites (Reader's Digest was an early popularizer,
though not the originator)...

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https://archive.org/details/N028035/page/136/mode/2up
_Analecta_, Central Collegiate Institute (Calgary, Alberta), June 1945, p.
136
Oh! Hoh! -- "Honey, if I told you that you had a lovely shape, would you
hold it against me?"
---
https://books.google.com/books?id=v2qRs6XHnfAC
_Reader's Digest_, Apr. 1948, p. 128, "Spiced Tongue"
Boy to beautiful girl, "If I told you that you have a gorgeous figure,
would you hold it against me?"
---
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-south-sioux-city-mail-would-you-hold/131354803/
South Sioux City (Neb.) Mail, Sep. 29, 1950, p. 2, col. 3
Boy to beautiful girl, "If I told you you have a gorgeous figure, would you
hold it against me?"
---
https://archive.org/details/choochoo19511951haml/page/58/mode/2up
_Choo-Choo_, Hamlet (N.C.) High School, 1951, p. 59
Bernard, to beautiful girl: "If I told you that you have a gorgeous figure,
would you hold it against me?"
---
https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-would-you-hold-it-against-m/131354197/
Minneapolis Tribune, Aug. 29, 1951, p. 14, col. 1, "Mr. Fixit Says"
If a salesman approaches a young lady by saying, "If I told you that you
had a beautiful body, would you hold It against me?" what should she say?
---

Here's the earliest Groucho Marx attribution I've found:

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https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-groucho-hold-i/131346468/
Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 10, 1979, p. 3, col. 1
In the grand tradition of the late Groucho Marx who used to ask young
women, "If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against
me?" we bring you Christopher Harris, who hugs total strangers for a living.
---

--bgz

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