[Ads-l] Catchphrase Origin: Is the Pope Catholic?

[Jonathan Lighter]

 Back when I was collecting for HDAS (1975-76) a fellow grad student
volunteered the roughly interchangeable phrases, "Is the Pope Catholic?"
and "Does a bear shit in the woods?"  "Does a chicken have lips?" could be
either negative or (illogically) positive.

>From Internet Archive:

1963 _Praeterita_ (Arvin [Calif.] High School) 41: Does a chicken have lips?

All from Newspapers.com:

1969 _L.A. Times_  (WEST Magazine) (Mar. 16) 32: Speaking of that, will you
[Lew Alcindor] have a manager?  "Does a chicken have lips? I'm going to
hire help. man. Just _hire_ 'em...and I won't have to be giving up 10
percent of my whole income. You hip to it?"

[1970 _Blade_ (Toledo, O.) (Apr. 30) 21: Does a chicken have lips?  Rickey
says they do, but I say they don't.]

1974 _ Transcript_  (North Adams, Mass.) (June 8) 15: Did we seniors enjoy
our four years at Greylock? Does a chicken have lips?

1975 _Austin American-Statesman_ (Mar. 28) 8: Will the rooster's beaked
bugle be stilled in this East Texas town? Does a chicken have lips?...Judge
Davis Cook has preserved...the sacred alarm of Ross Wyatt's bantam rooster.

1975 _Commercial Appeal_ (Memphis, Tenn.) (Jul. 6) TV-3: Does Dean Martin
drink? Does a chicken have lips? "Of course I drink," says Dean.

Etc., etc.

JL

On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 12:32 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Scholar Charles Clay Doyle calls the phrase in the subject line a
> sarcastic interrogative, and he mentions other phrases in this family
> such as "Is water wet?", "Can birds fly?", and "Is the sky blue?".
>
> [ref] 1975 Spring, Midwestern Journal of Language and Folklore, Volume
> 1, Number 1, Sarcastic Interrogative Affirmatives and Negatives by
> Charles Clay Doyle, Start Page 33, End Page 34, Indiana State
> University, Terre Haute, Indiana. (HathiTrust Full View) [/ref]
>
> The wonderful website "Green's Dictionary of Slang" lists several
> examples together with citations. Here is a link:
> https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/6dklozy
>
> Way back in February 2011 sarcastic interrogatives were discussed on
> this mailing list in two threads:
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-February/107011.html
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-February/107021.html
>
> Recently, I was communicating with quotation expert Nigel Rees, and he
> suggested exploring "Is the Pope Catholic?".
>
> The earliest match for the target phrase with the desired sense I
> found appeared on August 24, 1952, within a San Antonio, Texas
> newspaper. An article about adventurer Jim Furlong described his
> journey sailing half-way around the world in a small sailing boat.
> Unfortunately, he suffered an accident that damaged his foot. Furlong
> was asked about his experience:
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Would he do it all over again?
> "Is the Pope a Catholic," grinned Furlong. "Sure I would. I'm already
> planning my next trip -- and it's going to be the biggest yet."
> [End excerpt]
>
> I also found multiple earlier instances which were comical, but not
> sarcastic. For example, on December 28, 1854, "The Boston Herald" of
> Massachusetts printed the following short item titled "A Catholic Know
> Nothing":
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> An Irishwoman in this city, not long since, while listening to some
> conversation respecting Nicholas and the Pope, inquired, very
> innocently -- "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Fact.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/11/07/pope-catholic/
>
> Feedback and interesting material about "Is the Pope Catholic?" would be
> welcome
> Garson O'Toole
> QuoteInvestigator.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
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