Carter got pills
Mike Connally
In article <347632...@kcn.or.jp>, yoko komuro <kom...@kcn.or.jp> wrote:
> "I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
> worst party I ever worked.
>
> Who/What is Carter ?
My USA credentials have timed out, but yonks ago there was a product
called Carter's Little Liver Pills which did a roaring trade with the
geriatric set. Perhaps someone more in touch with current practice
there can confirm that the product still exists?
--
Mike Connally Reading, England
'All great truths begin as blasphemies.' - George Bernard Shaw
John Ings
On Sat, 22 Nov 1997 01:18:45 +0000, yoko komuro <kom...@kcn.or.jp>
wrote:
>I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
>"I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
>worst party I ever worked.
>
>Who/What is Carter ?
The manufacturer of "Carters Little Liver Pills" a popular remedy in
the earler years of this century. They were, if I remember correctly,
white things about the size of an apple seed. Even a small pill bottle
held a lot of them.
"More than Carter's got pills" used to be a common analogy for "very
many" but you hear it less often nowadays.
Robert Lieblich
I think the US Food and Drug Agency made Carters take the word "liver"
out of the name of the pills about 40 years ago when the company could
show nothing in the pills made from liver and no effect onthe liver from
taking the pills.
The exact phrase "Carter got pills," as it appears in the quotation, is
not grammatical. Note how John Ings instinctively corrected it to
"Carter's got pills," which equates to "Carter has got pills," which IS
grammatically correct. However, phrases like "Carter got pills" are
very common in casual speech, and the sentence is idiomatic as
originally quoted. Compare: "Sure as eggs is eggs" and "If it ain't
broke, don't fix it."
Bob Lieblich
Larry Krakauer
yoko komuro wrote:
> I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
> "I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
> worst party I ever worked.
>
> Who/What is Carter ?
Others have answered you about "Carter's Little Liver Pills".
It should also be pointed out also that the sentence is
grammatically incorrect. It is the sort of slang that might
be used by an uneducated detective. It should be:
"I've been to more crime scenes than Carter has pills, and this is the
worst party I've ever worked.
or perhaps
"I've been to more crime scenes than Carter's got pills, and this is
the
worst party I've ever worked.
Sorry if that was already clear to you, but I thought someone
ought to say it in case it was not.
--
Larry Krakauer (lar...@kronos.com)
Thomas Schenk
yoko komuro wrote:
>
> I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
> "I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
> worst party I ever worked.
>
> Who/What is Carter ?
One has to go back a generation or two for this one. Carter's Pills are
still available in the US as a patent medicine remedy for back pain.
Until, I think, about the 1960s, the drug was a fabulously successful
common nostrum, touted for kidney disease, liver disease, impotency,
muscular pain, and a wide variety of other snake-oil-susceptible,
vaguely described illnesses. Until that time they were called "Carter's
Little Liver Pills". Because of their wild popularity and ubiquity, the
name "Carter's Pills" became a frequent metaphor for anything of vast
quantity. Unless I'm mistaken, the company dates back about one hundred
years.
Best regards,
Tom
--
*******************
Dr Thomas M Schenk
Laguna Beach, California
Jonathan Mason
yoko komuro <kom...@kcn.or.jp> wrote:
>I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
>"I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
>worst party I ever worked.
>
>Who/What is Carter ?
Carter's Little Liver Pills were/are an old-fashioned remedy, for what I
am not sure (hangovers, perhaps).
Truly Donovan
yoko komuro wrote:
>
> I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
> "I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
> worst party I ever worked.
>
> Who/What is Carter ?
The phrase is actually "than Carter's got pills," a
contracted form of "than Carter has got pills."
"Carter" is an long-time manufacturer of a product known (at
least at one time) as "Carter's Little Liver Pills," which
one takes for whatever ails one.
And the expression "for whatever ails you" means that it is
a panacea -- it solves whatever problem you have. But you
haven't asked that question yet.
--
Truly Donovan
reply to truly at lunemere dot com
Frizz
>The exact phrase "Carter got pills," as it appears in the quotation, is
>not grammatical. Note how John Ings instinctively corrected it to
>"Carter's got pills," which equates to "Carter has got pills," which IS
>grammatically correct. However, phrases like "Carter got pills" are
>very common in casual speech, and the sentence is idiomatic as
>originally quoted. Compare: "Sure as eggs is eggs" and "If it ain't
>broke, don't fix it."
I've never heard "Carter got" as opposed to "Carter's got" and I live in the
Deep South.
The original poster was Japanese, which would explain the "Carter Got". I have
noticed that Asians have tremendous difficulty with subject-verb agreement, so I
suppose that most Asian languages have "one-size-fits-all" verbs.
--
=FRIZZ=
yoko komuro
Stan Brown
[posted and emailed]
In article <347632...@kcn.or.jp>, kom...@kcn.or.jp (yoko komuro)
wrote:
>I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
>"I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
>worst party I ever worked.
"Carter's Little Liver Pills" was a medicament sold a few decades ago,
and well known in the U.S. at the time.
In his song "Pills", Allan Sherman made the joke that among all the types
of pills there was "a pill for Carter's little liver". Probably most
people under 50 would no longer get the joke.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
http://www.concentric.net/%7eBrownsta/
Stan Brown
In article <3475DB...@erols.com>, lieb...@erols.com (Robert
Lieblich) wrote:
>John Ings wrote:
>
>The exact phrase "Carter got pills," as it appears in the quotation, is
>not grammatical.
There's a religious song that begins "I got shoes, you got shoes, all
God's children [chillun?] got shoes." I don't know its origin, or whether
it's still sung (I last heard it 20-odd years ago when I was a
churchgoer).
I agree that it's ungrammatical, but in informal speech it seems colorful
to me rather than wrong.
Charles A. Lee
Dear Yoko,
On Sat, 22 Nov 1997 01:18:45 +0000, you wrote:
>I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
>
>"I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
>worst party I ever worked.
>
>Who/What is Carter ?
During the Golden Age of Radio, a number of shows were sponsored by
the makers of a mild laxative product called "Carter's Little Liver
Pills." Eventually, the U.S. government discovered that the pills
contained no liver and made them change the name. (Carter's Pills)
The product was small, plentiful, and seemingly everywhere, so the
phrase "more ______s than Carter's has pills" became synonymous with
being ubiquitous or overly abundant.
More information on the product is available at:
http://med-www.bu.edu/cim/teams/group1/tom/lecture3.html
More information about the products featured during the Golden Age of
Radio can be found at:
http://www.old-time.com/toc.html
Cheers.
db...@utdallas.edu
Thomas Schenk (tmsc...@pol.net) wrote:
: yoko komuro wrote:
: >
: > I can't understand "than Carter got pills,"in the below sentense.
: >
: > "I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
: > worst party I ever worked.
: >
: > Who/What is Carter ?
These days, if someone uses such an expression, they are clearly dating
themselves. The 70's version was "more than the Colonel has herbs and
spices," referring to the eleven herbs and spices used in Colonel
Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken. Any nominees for the 90's version?
Douglas Bass
David McMurray
Robert Lieblich wrote:
[long snip ...]
> "Carter's got pills," which equates to "Carter has got pills," which IS
> grammatically correct.
[and another - shorter - snip]
A may equate to B and B may be grammatically correct but it is as ugly
as hell. What's wrong with "Carter has pills"?
What earthly purpose is served by "got"? Has "Pontiac's got it" crushed
elegance forever?
(This is not directed at you, Bob; you've just provided my opportunity
to rail about a pet peeve.)
--
David (eliminate "hitch" to reply)
N.Mitchum
Robert Lieblich wrote:
------
> I think the US Food and Drug Agency made Carters take the word "liver"
> out of the name of the pills about 40 years ago when the company could
> show nothing in the pills made from liver and no effect onthe liver from
> taking the pills.
That's long been my understanding. In its drive to eliminate
false advertising the FDA required the company to remove "liver"
from the label. I can understand, though, why the maker included
that organ in its name in the first place: for centuries the
liver was associated with emotional and physical health; specifics
claiming to cure the mind or body often claimed also to work
through the liver. Even today we may call a person "liverish" or
"bilious" when describing his mental or physical condition.
-----
> The exact phrase "Carter got pills," as it appears in the quotation, is
> not grammatical. Note how John Ings instinctively corrected it to
> "Carter's got pills,"
>.....
The original poster was, to his credit, careful to put the
sentence in quotes. It's plainly a piece of dialogue, and in all
likelihood it came from a crime novel, a type of prose not notable
for its nice grammar. (Which is to say that we are wasting our
time if we try to *correct* the sentence.)
--- NM
Replies copied to e-mail are appreciated. (Mailers: drop PANTS.)
Robert M. Wilson
In article <MPG.ee0d30c9...@news.concentric.net>,
brow...@concentric.net (Stan Brown) wrote:
>In article <3475DB...@erols.com>, lieb...@erols.com (Robert
>Lieblich) wrote:
>>John Ings wrote:
>>
>>not grammatical.
>
>God's children [chillun?] got shoes." I don't know its origin, or whether
>it's still sung (I last heard it 20-odd years ago when I was a
>churchgoer).
>
>I agree that it's ungrammatical, but in informal speech it seems colorful
>to me rather than wrong.
>
"I got a (gotta) shoes
You got a shoes
All God's chillun got a shoes
When I go to heaven
Gonna put on my shoes
Gonna walk all over God's heaven."
Other verses were "I got a song," "I got a cross" and so on.
(From memory. It could probably be found in an anthology of similar works.)
Lee Lester
>"I been to more crime scenes than Carter got pills, and this is the
>worst party I ever worked.
>Who/What is Carter ?
Carter's Liver Pills, maybe it was Carter's Little Liver Pills, were
once sold widely in the UK. I don't know if they are still
made.
lee lester