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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

923.0. "....NOT!!" by RDVAX::KALIKOW (Partially Sage, and Rarely On Time) Thu Nov 07 1991 19:41

    "Gee Eryk, you're a really fine writer......................NOT!!"
    
    "All our investments will triple by next Wednesday..........NOT!!"
    
    Whence did this weird US-pop-culture locution come?  Why??
    
    I care so *much* about finding the answer...................
    
                                                                NOT!!
    
     (But really I do, else why would I have entered this basenote?)
    
        (Is ...NOT! a distant relative of "Ask me if I care!!?")
    
                   If NOT, is it related to ANYTHING?
    
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923.1JIT081::DIAMONDOrder temporarily out of personal nameThu Nov 07 1991 23:035
    It's perfectly clear to me...................................NOT!
    
    I guess that's why it has its own DCL command................NOT!
    
       ..........................................................NOT!
923.2NOT confusedMARVIN::KNOWLESCaveat vendorFri Nov 08 1991 05:404
    I've no idea what this is all about - is the NOT a Germanic call
    for agreement (...nicht?) or a sign of doubt (Eng: I should coco)?
    
    b
923.3DTIF::RUSTFri Nov 08 1991 06:5110
    I think it's a tag line from a U.S. comedy show, but if so I've never
    seen the original bit. I was puzzled by it, too; context indicates that
    it's used to mean "The previous statement was really heavy sarcasm and
    I disagree with it completely, hah, hah!" but when I first heard it
    spoken I thought it might be the equivalent of "n'est-ce pas?" or
    "isn't that so?".
    
    Maybe it will go away.
    
    -b
923.4KAOFS::S_BROOKFri Nov 08 1991 07:2519
I've heard it used a lot ... it is a way of stating something to lead the
listener into a given situation with the statement and then shock him / her
by negating it at the end.  When I first heard it, it appeared to come from
attempting to speak a logical formula like

			________
			(a.or.b)

which would be 'a or b bar' ie the negation comes after stating a fact.

It certainly can be cruel ...

You are a great cook ....................NOT!

Indeed let's hope this fad passes, but I've heard it on and off for 20
years now, so I have my doubts.

Stuart

923.5NSSMAC::BONNELLWhere's the beach !?Fri Nov 08 1991 07:5011
Well, I think I first heard it used in the "Wayne's World" segment,
on "Saturday Night Live" (re: .3 yup - that's a U.S Comedy Show).
For those who haven't seen "Wayne's World" (a recurrent sketch)
the characters are supposed to be teen-agers in the mid-west.

However, I don't know if the SNL writers/actors invented the "...NOT!"
tag, or merely passed it along.


regards...
...diane
923.6N'tPOBOX::WIECHMANNShort to, long through.Fri Nov 08 1991 08:358
	When I was a kid, we used to do the same thing, only we
	used the contraction "n't."

	I don't think it was very widespread though.  We usually
	just got confused looks from people outside our circle.

	-Jim
923.7I hope it comes to the UK... NOTMARVIN::KNOWLESCaveat vendorTue Nov 12 1991 06:0016
    I've just thought - maybe this is related to a phrase I remember from
    my (UK) childhood: `...I _don't_ think'. I haven't heard it much
    recently.  It would work perfectly well in the sentence:
    	You're a great cook... I _don't_ think [note, stress on the `don't']
    
    But there was no element of shock in it; the sarcasm was clear
    right from the beginning of the positive bit.
    
    I hope ...NOT doesn't catch on over here (a wan hope, probably - once
    one of the Turtles, or Bart uses it our children will be hooked for
    life). But as we older folks grew up (probably at age 8-10) we realized
    that having your fingers crossed behind your back didn't make a lie any
    less of a lie. I think anything with the syntactic soundness of NOT
    (perhaps muttered in an aside) would be less easy to nail as deceitful.
    
    b
923.8MCIS5::WOOLNERPhotographer is fuzzy, underdeveloped and denseWed Nov 13 1991 13:524
    Wayne's World revived it but I remember it from Monmouth County, NJ
    circa '64-'65.  I really missed it in the meantime........ NOT!
    
    Leslie