Most irritating piece of misplaced grammar evar!
"D'oh"
What's the apostrophe for? Why is it in there? Why do otherwise seemingly intelligent people / organisations quote it verbatim?
Have I been missing something all these years?
Homer Simpson's "D'oh!" has topped a poll of kids' top TV catchphrases, with Fred Flintstone's "Yabba Dabba Doo!" and classic Dalek imperative "Exterminate" voted second and third in Brit viewers' affections. This isn't, however, necessarily what today's nippers actually favour, since The Baby Website quizzed 7,431 adults as …
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No. 19 is a misquote:
The catchphrase most associated with Laurel and Hardy is "Well, there's another fine mess you've gotten me into." The phrase has passed into common language usage and means to blame a partner for causing both people an avoidable problem. This phrase is a misquote and Ollie actually says "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into." The phrase was first used in their 1930 film, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case and Another Fine Mess was the title of one of their short films released later that year.
From: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Laurel_and_Hardy
What would you prefer, D_Oh or the Yorkshire-like D't'Oh (where the t is actually a glottal stop)?
While it's obviously not correct "written grammar" the apostrophe is used in an attempt to render the word phonetically -- otherwise it would be pronounced in the same way as dough.
> "D'oh"
>What's the apostrophe for? Why is it in there?
It's because the phrase actually originated with the medieval French curse, "D'eau", that is to say "De Eau" or "Of Water", a reference to the anger and hatred felt by the peasantry of that time for the tyrannous rule of their overlords in Ofwat, the water regulator's office.
Or something like that.
The BBFC decided that Ninjas were definitely something that British children should aspire to be, so they had to be renamed as heroes. The theme tune was re-done to match and all accompanying merchandise, even the arcade and computer games, were branded differently.
At the time it didn't stop my 8 year old nephew pretending he was a ninja, making his own nunchuks and beating up his little sister though.
We also had Top Cat here in the UK and I think he's Boss Cat in the US. Something to do with a brand of cat food having the same name if I remember corrrectly.
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Ahhh yes, Crackerjack. Used to drive me step-mum up the wall watching that program. She hated it with a passion!
You should have seen her face when I answered her with a D'Oh! Mind you, I think that's how I developed such quick duck and cover reactions as a clip round the ear was considered normal back then...
Fond memories of some great TV moments.
> Also from the same programme: "Maclean?"
"Yes. I had a bath this morning."
Question from Peter Glaze, answer from Don Maclean. If I remember correctly, this was Peter Glaze's second stint on the show.
"Crush a grape" etc. by Stu Francis.
Before him I remember Michael Aspel and Leslie Crowther. I can't with any certainty remember the others.
I'm 49, going on 50.
** D'oh! - The Simpsons
Actually, that should be written as <annoyed grunt>, since that's how it appears on every Simpson scripts (and was left Hank Azaria to fill) and a couple of episode titles ("e-i-e-i-<annoyed grunt>" comes to mind).
** Beam me up Scotty - Star Trek
Never said in TOS. But was actually added in later series to honour the Meme.
** I taught I taw a puddy tat - Tweety Pie
Should be "tought", not "taught".
** That's another fine mess you got me into - Laurel and Hardy
"Nice mess", not "fine mess". The later is a title from one of their movies.
Yes, I have a life. I just have this nasty habit of picking up trivia as I go along.
"It's because the phrase (D'oh) actually originated with the medieval French curse, "D'eau", that is to say "De Eau" or "Of Water", a reference to the anger and hatred felt by the peasantry of that time for the tyrannous rule of their overlords in Ofwat, the water regulator's office.
Or something like that."
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I work for a major company subject to regulation by Ofwat, and this just reduced the whole office to helpless laughter! :D
What dickheads thought it necessary to bring back memories of such abortions as The Krankies and Crackerjack or the See You Next Tuesday that thought renaming Ninja to Hero made a cartoon less violent.
As you noted the adult input had to be key because no kids watching TV today would know what the fuck you were talking about if you mentioned at least 18 of them.
If this had anything to do with kids, you'd have to ask where the catch phrases of Monsieur Squarepants, Timmy Turner's dad or any from the programs kids (and unfortunately myself as a parent of kids) actually watch these days. All I see is a bunch of shite canceled 2 decades before any of today's TV watching kids were born.