[Ads-l] "act like you've been someplace before"

[Emily Gordon]

I’ve always liked this passage by Sylvia Plath from The Bell Jar:

I’d discovered, after a lot of extreme apprehension about what spoons to
use, that if you do something incorrect at table with a certain arrogance,
as if you knew perfectly well you were doing it properly, you can get away
with it and nobody will think you are bad-mannered or poorly brought up.
They will think you are original and very witty.


On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 2:44 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Hello Martin. Interesting thread. The wonderful reference DMP has a
> pertinent entry.
>
> Book: The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (2012)
> Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro,
> Quote Page 2
> Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Act like you’ve been there before.
>
> 1984 Spokesman-Review [Spokane WA] 2 Feb.: "On a player who spikes the
> ball after a touchdown [ football referee Jim Tunney says]: 'I don't
> like them either. I always tell the player, act like you’ve been there
> before.'"
>
> 1986 New York Times 7 Dec.: "'But I never spiked the ball in college,'
> he [football player Stacy Robinson] said, because my coach, Dan
> Morton, used to tell us, 'Act like you’ve been there before.'"
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1964 there was a match (I think) for the guidance offered by your
> friend. An uncomfortable journalist who was visiting a new location
> used the following phrase as an internal self-help mantra: "Act like
> you've been here all your life."
>
> Date: December 31, 1964
> Newspaper: Press-Telegram
> Newspaper Location: Long Beach, California
> Article: Sports Merry-Go-Round
> Author:  Hank Hollingworth (Executive Sports Editor)
> Quote Page C1, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-telegram-before/201775250/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The afternoon was delightful ... until one went into the ice skating
> palace--the place called Olympic Ice Arena in Torrance.
>
> The stranger initially thought he was a real outsider, one who doesn't
> belong in such places. Immediately upon closing the door, the ice
> started gathering around the bald spots and other parts of the
> stranger's framework.
>
> Only one thought persisted: Put up with it, man. After all, you're a
> newspaperman, one used to adverse conditions.
>
> Gritting the teeth, the stranger took a deep breath and told himself,
> "Buddy, show a little class. Act like you've been here all your life."
>
> Which wasn't true, of course. But the stranger braced his shoulders
> and forced himself to venture further. Five feet inside the door the
> stranger became embarrassed. Yards away from him were a million kids,
> some even above the age of six, who were frolicking about the rink as
> though they were born there
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson O'Toole
>
> On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 3:23 PM Martin Schneider
> <000024dc089a88e9-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > This is my first thread so I hope I'm doing this right. (The first effort
> > already foundered but I think I have fixed the issue.)
> >
> > A friend is fond of the trope "Act like you've been someplace before,"
> this
> > is basically his main rule in life, try not to get caught out looking
> like
> > a rube and so forth. It's a good life rule, for sure.
> >
> > The question is, where does it come from? I have a strong hunch that it
> > comes from sports, specifically football. In the 1970s or so it became
> more
> > common for (usually African-American, or at least so goes the narrative)
> > athletes to engage in flamboyant post-score celebrations. The "high five"
> > was invented around this time, as was the general spectacle (no reproach)
> > of spiking the ball in the end zone or even doing a little dance.
> >
> > I think there evolved a backlash to this, because anything interesting
> that
> > African-American people do requires a protest or backlash in this
> country,
> > right? So the trope might have run "Stan Musial / Johnny Unitas / [insert
> > favored tight-lipped white athlete of yore here] didn't feel the need to
> do
> > a dance every time they did something......" grumble, grumble, let's ban
> > fun. Act like you've been someplace before.
> >
> > But who knows, maybe it comes from the military. Maybe it comes from the
> > world of commerce and board rooms! Anybody know?
> >
> > I'd appreciate seeing the fruits of your researches.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Martin
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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