What's that all about?
irwell
Bill Clinton used it the other day about Obama,
and Chris Matthews trots it out in nearly
every Hardball session.
Don Phillipson
news:q6cio3dhigffmssgu...@4ax.com...
I have heard more than one (not particularly funny)
standup comic use this phrase for punctuation or
to prod the audience: but I don't think it is owned
by any particular public figure.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Mike Lyle
It's been used as a "think-about-the-implications" laughter-trigger by
British comics for some years now (ten years?). "Liverpool, you know
Liverpool, represented by these two socking great birds stuck on the
roof. What's that all about, then?" Even Richard Dawkins used it. I
paraphrase from memory from TGD: "In the original British game of
Cluedo, there's a Reverend Green. But in the American version, he's
changed to plain 'Mr Green'. What's that all about?"
--
Mike.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Donna Richoux
> "irwell" <ho...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:q6cio3dhigffmssgu...@4ax.com...
>
> > Is this the latest buzz phrase?
> > Bill Clinton used it the other day about Obama,
> > and Chris Matthews trots it out in nearly
> > every Hardball session.
>
> I have heard more than one (not particularly funny)
> standup comic use this phrase for punctuation or
> to prod the audience: but I don't think it is owned
> by any particular public figure.
That's it. A search confirms that Jerry Seinfeld used it routinely. His
show began in 1989.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Django Cat
> > Is this the latest buzz phrase?
> >
> > Bill Clinton used it the other day about Obama,
> > and Chris Matthews trots it out in nearly
> > every Hardball session.
>
> It's been used as a "think-about-the-implications" laughter-trigger by
> British comics for some years now (ten years?). "Liverpool, you know
> Liverpool, represented by these two socking great birds stuck on the
> roof. What's that all about, then?" Even Richard Dawkins used it. I
> paraphrase from memory from TGD: "In the original British game of
> Cluedo, there's a Reverend Green. But in the American version, he's
> changed to plain 'Mr Green'. What's that all about?"
A particular favourite catch phrase of Paul Merton's...
DC
--
tinwhistler
[snip]
> > I have heard more than one (not particularly funny)
> > standup comic use this phrase for punctuation or
> > to prod the audience: but I don't think it is owned
> > by any particular public figure.
>
> That's it. A search confirms that Jerry Seinfeld used it routinely. His
> show began in 1989.
[snip]
If you Google on "What was that all about" "Marlon Brando" you get
many hits; eg:
http://www.dawnrobinson.com/expressions.htm
"I don't know what determines happiness in life - I really don't
know. Life is a mystery and it's an unsolvable one. You just simply
live it through. And, as you draw your last breath, you say, 'What
was that all about?'" - Marlon Brando in an interview sometime in
the late 1980s.
I think this attribution is accurate, from my own memory, even if it
is fuzzy on the precise date.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
R H Draney
A similar phrase even more associated with Jerry Seinfeld is "what is the deal
with that?"...r
--
What good is being an executive if you never get to execute anyone?
Donna Richoux
Well, I didn't mean to suggest that Seinfeld was the first to string
those words together. An 1827 book for Englishmen wanting to learn
French has both "What is that all about" and "What was that all about"
as idiomatic phrases. But as an example of a modern
not-particularly-funny stand-up comedian who used it repeatedly as a
comic formula...
I also find one hit for George Carlin, who was one of the first stand-up
comedians to muse about the oddities of everyday life, in the modern
style.
Don't you hate it when people send you unsolicited
pictures of their kids? What's that all about?
Oh, but that book was published in 2001, so it doesn't prove much of
anything.
Django Cat
> I also find one hit for George Carlin, who was one of the first
> stand-up comedians to muse about the oddities of everyday life, in
> the modern style.
>
> Don't you hate it when people send you unsolicited
> pictures of their kids? What's that all about?
The man's spot on, though.
DC
--
Robin Bignall
That reminded me of the 1966 movie Alfie, starring Michael Caine.
It featured the song "What's it all about, Alfie?"
--
Robin Bignall (BrE)
Herts, England
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
Yeah, what's up with that?
--
Jerry Friedman
Peter Moylan
Isn't it great, though, that they take vacation photos only once a year?
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Mike Lyle
What's that all about, then?
But note for the Divided-by-a-Common-Language Dept: "What's up?" in MyE
means "What's wrong?" The neutral "What's happening?" meaning still
throws me a bit, though we're getting used to it.
Skitt
> jerry_f...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> irwell wrote:
>>> Is this the latest buzz phrase?
>>>
>>> Bill Clinton used it the other day about Obama,
>>> and Chris Matthews trots it out in nearly
>>> every Hardball session.
>>
>> Yeah, what's up with that?
>
> What's that all about, then?
>
> But note for the Divided-by-a-Common-Language Dept: "What's up?" in
> MyE means "What's wrong?" The neutral "What's happening?" meaning
> still throws me a bit, though we're getting used to it.
'Sup?
--
Skitt
Some mornings it's just not worth chewing
through the leather straps. --Emo Phillips