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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Bill mentioned searching scripts. While conducting research in the
past I have occasionally searched the script-o-rama database. For
example, one may execute the following command:

"talk to the hand" site:script-o-rama.com

[Begin matches]
Harriet The Spy Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or ...
Two If By Sea Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or ...
Orange County Script - Dialogue Transcript
Terminator 3 Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or ...
I Could Never Be Your Woman Script - Dialogue Transcript
[End matches]

The IMDB database suggests that all these matches are in scripts of
films released in 1996 or later. This discussion thread already
contains a 1994 citation. Of course, many scripts have a multi-year
genesis. Yet, ascribing a date before the movie release date would
require an authoritative revision history for the script. Here are the
release years from IMDB:

Harriet the Spy (1996)
Two If By Sea (1996)
Orange County (2002)
Terminator 3 (2003)
I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

After obtaining the 1996 lower bound I did not look carefully at any
of these scripts. I am mentioning this search strategy to provide a
tip for fellow researchers. I would welcome similar tips (on or off
list).

Garson

On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 4:17 PM Ben Zimmer
<00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> I did my own casual streaming of the first few seasons of "Martin" on
> Netflix, and I agree with Jeff's assessment. There were a number of times
> (not just S1E20) where characters used the "talk to the hand" gesture but
> did not actually say that. So I think the gesture and the expression got
> conflated in people's memories. Also, the fact that the show popularized
> other catchphrases ("Whassup," "You go, girl," "Get to steppin'," etc.)
> made it easier to imagine "talk to the hand" was used on the show as well.
>
> --Ben

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