Who knows where this phrase comes from?

GunClick Rick · November 30, 2009, 04:14:58 PM

WY I OUTTA!

Our Pard Angel Eyes needs help..

Although i'm sure i spelled oughtta wrong

Daniel Nighteyes · November 30, 2009, 06:25:32 PM

Quote from: GunClick Rick on November 30, 2009, 04:14:58 PM
WY I OUTTA!

Our Pard Angel Eyes needs help.. Although i'm sure i spelled oughtta wrong

That phrase, amigo, is from the silver screen. It's in about 50 B Westerns and old-time radio dramas from the 1930's and 1940's. It proved so popular that it found its way into the scripts of a large number of movies from the 1930's onward. I'm not sure its possible to track down the first time it was uttered.

[And its probably best recorded as "Why, I oughta...!"]

WaddWatsonEllis · November 30, 2009, 07:01:35 PM

And here all along I thought it was the Three Stooges ...

Daniel Nighteyes · November 30, 2009, 07:16:00 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on November 30, 2009, 07:01:35 PM
And here all along I thought it was the Three Stooges ...

GunClick Rick · November 30, 2009, 07:16:33 PM

That's where i was goin Wad

Delmonico · November 30, 2009, 07:52:05 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on November 30, 2009, 07:01:35 PM
And here all along I thought it was the Three Stooges ...

Delmonico leaves the tread bitin' his tongue.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 30, 2009, 08:04:44 PM

I appologize, Delomnico ....

But, like Roger Ravbbit, if you give me a one liner, I just gotta finish it ....

Like Shave and a haircut,

TWO BITS!

Delmonico · November 30, 2009, 08:06:16 PM

So what do the other "two" have to say fer themselves?

Daniel Nighteyes · November 30, 2009, 08:39:12 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on November 30, 2009, 08:04:44 PM
... if you give me a one liner, I just gotta finish it ....

Like Shave and a haircut,

TWO BITS!

I wuz always taught that it was "Six Bits." Guess that's clear evidence of inflation...

Dr. Bob · November 30, 2009, 11:16:39 PM

Daniel N.,

You must be a your whipper snapper! Was always "two bits" when I was growing up!

Daniel Nighteyes · December 01, 2009, 09:53:20 AM

Quote from: Dr. Bob on November 30, 2009, 11:16:39 PM
Daniel N.,

You must be a your whipper snapper! Was always "two bits" when I was growing up!

I'm no longer able to whip or snap, but I do creak and groan from time to time. $:-\$ $:-\$

Actually, according to Wikipedia:" In the book Rascal by Sterling North, set in 1918, the narrator says 'six bits' (75 cents) instead of 'two bits'." So apparently both have been in use for a rather long time.

GunClick Rick · December 01, 2009, 12:26:27 PM

like livin in a huanted house ain't it

Angel_Eyes · December 01, 2009, 01:10:19 PM

Thanks for all the explanations, guys!

GCR, without you I wouldn't stand a 'ghost' of a chance!! (sic)

AE (hur, hur, hur)

Daniel Nighteyes · December 01, 2009, 01:34:16 PM

Quote from: GunClick Rick on December 01, 2009, 12:26:27 PM
like livin in a huanted house ain't it

Since in my youth and young adulthood I behaved like I was ten feet tall and bulletproof, I'd say I'm being haunted by the Ghost of Catastrophies Past. And, as my former neighbor Jimmy Buffett once said, If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

Ain't it the truth! Ain't it the truth! -- The Cowardly Lion, 1939