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

[Jonathan Lighter]

FWIW, "talk to the hand" does not appear in HDAS II. Had I been aware of it
before 1997, it would have been there. Moreover, I believe I watched every
episode of  _Martin_  as it appeared.  Had anyone said "Talk to the hand,"
I believe I would have caught it.

JL



On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 4:37 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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