[Ads-l] "Talk to the Hand" Query

[Ben Zimmer]

Fred posted an antedating last June, and then again a few days ago, from
July 19, 1994:

1994 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 19 July 8E (ProQuest)
TALK TO THE HAND  "It means, "Shut up, I don't want to talk to you any
more."  — James, 12, Boca Raton Middle.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2025-June/167158.html
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2026-January/168384.html

(I'll renew my plea to try to keep discussions threaded so we don't lose
track of useful information scattered across different subject lines.)

On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 1:28 AM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >   The phrase "talk to the hand" is widely attributed to Martin
> Lawrence's 1990s sit-com, but I am having trouble
> >   pinpointing episodes where it was used.  Can anyone suggest relevant
> episodes or methods of finding them ?
> >
> >   Fred Shapiro
>
> "Talk to the hand, cause the face ain't listening."
>
> I never watched "Martin", but did start hearing this in the 1990s.  Maybe
> from Fran Drescher on "The Nanny".
>
> One way of searching dialogue is through shooting scripts.  You can often
> google [show title] " script" and find one, but be aware that search
> results may not be 100% accurate — they may be early drafts, or the filmed
> result may be different from on-set changes made after a script is
> finalized.  I've had greater success finding movie scripts than TV scripts.
>
> Another is through subtitle files associated with shows.  The closed
> caption dialogue in television and movies is captured in .SRT files (there
> are other formats/extensions used, but this is the most common.)  Google
> [show title] "srt" and you can often find the subtitle file(s) for the show
> in question.
>
> Unfortunately, I don't see many SRT files online for "Martin".  If you can
> get the DVDs of the show, there are tools that will rip these files from
> them, but I'd imagine you are looking for something cheaper and online and
> immediately available.
>
> The earliest textual cite I can find:
>
> 1995 Crusader [Susquehanna Univ. student newspaper] 10 Feb 4/4
>
> If you weren't there, too bad!  Just talk to the hand!!
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/Crusader-Vol_36_Nos_1-21_Sept_1994-April_1995/page/n100/mode/1up?q=%22talk+to+the+hand%22
>
> [Note:  going through Archive.org, I see nothing until 1995, and then many
> (mostly collegiate yearbooks and newspapers) cites starting in that year.
> If "Martin" is the vector for this phrase, I'd bet it was used in late 1994
> or early 1995, or the 3rd season].
>
>

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