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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

934.0. "'I hate it when that happens!' <= Howcum DAT Funny 2?" by RDVAX::KALIKOW ([Harvard]�) Fri Nov 29 1991 16:50

    This is a (newly-arrived in the USA) figure of speech that also has
    subtle conditions for its being funny -- though those conditions seem
    easier to set up than those in 931.*'s "It works for me!".  The general
    idea is that someone else describes an unpleasant life situation (that
    rarely occurs?  that was uncontrollable or simply random?  that they've
    caused by their own dumb behavior?) and then YOU chime in with "I hate
    it when that happens."  
    
    But it's not that, exactly.  What IS it, what does the situation have
    to be, before "I hate when that happens!" gets to be funny?
    
    Discuss.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
934.1SNLXANADU::RECKARDJon Reckard, 381-0878, ZKO3-2/T63Mon Dec 02 1991 09:0517
    The only Saturday Night Live (American TV show) I've seen in ten years
    or so (a repeat) contained a sketch done by Billy Crystal and Martin
    Short(?).  They chat back and forth about things that have happened to
    them recently.  One example (not *remotely* a quote):

    C:  and when the sink stopped up and I tried to remove the faucet with
        one of those ... uhh ...
    S:  Reverse-polarity cord-less left-handed flange lifters.
    C:  Yeah, that's it!  And the faucet comes off and water's going
        everywhere and I try to stop the water with my tongue and it gets
        stuck and I try to pull it out and it rips apart and I try to stop
        the bleeding with some pliers and I have to go the hospital ...
    S:  Don't you hate it when that happens?
    {repeat with minor alterations ad infinitum}

    I don't know who "coined" it, but I'd guess it was on that show - that
    would-be paragon of comedic-phrase-coinage.
934.2nit: no "it"MCIS5::WOOLNERPhotographer is fuzzy, underdeveloped and denseMon Dec 02 1991 11:441
    
934.3nPOWDML::SATOWMon Dec 02 1991 12:298
re: .2

Is this some kinda word puzzle?

                               nit: no "it" = n

    

934.4re .3 re .2 (good grief)MCIS5::WOOLNERPhotographer is fuzzy, underdeveloped and denseMon Dec 02 1991 13:1117
    *Sigh*
    
    > re: .2

    > Is this some kinda word puzzle?

    >                           nit: no "it" = n
    
    
    I thought I could say it all in the caption.
    People are quoting the phrase as "I hate it when that happens".
                                             ^^
    
    The NIT that I'm picking is: there's no "it" in the (SNL) phrase.
        ^^^                    ^         ^^^^^^^
    Sheesh, I shoulda stood in bed (kinda)!
    Leslie
934.5POWDML::SATOWMon Dec 02 1991 19:2115
>    I thought I could say it all in the caption.
>    People are quoting the phrase as "I hate it when that happens".
                                             ^^
    
>    The NIT that I'm picking is: there's no "it" in the (SNL) phrase.
        ^^^                    ^         ^^^^^^^
>    Sheesh, I shoulda stood in bed (kinda)!
>    Leslie

I knew it all along.  Forgot the smiley face.  I hate it when that happens.  
Whoops!  I hate when that happens.

			;^)

Clay
934.6OK kiddies, kiss & make up... :-)RDVAX::KALIKOWPartially Sage, and Rarely On TimeMon Dec 02 1991 19:5618
    And as long as we're pickin nits, the following excerpt from .5 has a
    coupla ripe ones...
    ===== begin nitridden text =====
    >    I thought I could say it all in the caption.
    >    People are quoting the phrase as "I hate it when that happens".
                                                 ^^
    
    >    The NIT that I'm picking is: there's no "it" in the (SNL) phrase.
            ^^^                    ^         ^^^^^^^
    ===== end nitridden text =====
    In Fewcha, please add an extra space to the two lines containing ^s to 
    compensate for your quote-indicating >s on the preceding lines.  
    ThankYewVeryMuch!!
    
    Gee, that felt GREAT.  I love when that happens!! :-)
    
    /s/ a virtual fan of SNL, 'twould seem...  Pity I didn't have a VCR in
                                               the good old days...
934.7Getting it rightMARVIN::KNOWLESCaveat vendorTue Dec 03 1991 04:165
    Maybe the intrusive `it' comes from over here. There's a fairly current
    series of ads in the UK that all end with the line `Don't you just hate
    it when that happens?'
    
    b
934.8SMAUG::MILLERValerie MillerTue Dec 03 1991 07:3922
    
    I've heard this phrase (and the related "don't you just hate [it] when
    that happens?") mostly in situations where a person is either
    describing an absurd, low-probability event that did in fact happen, or
    is going crazy worrying about a nearly impossibly scenario, e.g.
    
    	person A: I just know that on the way home from work today, the car
    		  will break down in the middle of the highway, I'll have
    		  to hike 10 miles to find a phone, the tow truck will take
    		  2 hours to get there, I won't have enough money anyway,
    		  and I won't get home until next week!
    
    	person B: Don't you just hate it when that happens? (laughing)
    
    The humor seems to be in the fact that the event in question does not
    in fact ever (or very often) happen, and the phrase implies that it
    happens often -- pointing out to the person that the event they fear is
    rare although they are acting as if it is common.
    
    
    [BTW: I have heard the phrase both with the "it" and without.]
    
934.9POWDML::COHEN_RTue Dec 03 1991 08:2014
    
    	Re: Leslie
    
    		Virgo to Virgo -- you are correct.
    
    		"I hate when that happens."
    
    		"I know what ya mean."
    
    	This is the proper  sequence from SNL to the best of my
    recollection.
    
    
    	Ralph
934.10MICKY::SIMPSONWed Dec 18 1991 03:512
    
    And I thought that the SOAPBOX was the bastion of mindless drivel�!!!!
934.11Not anymore... WELCOME, Sir Simp! :-)RDVAX::KALIKOW(-: Celebraturi Te Salutamus! :-)Wed Dec 18 1991 10:121
    
934.12MICKY::SIMPSONThu Dec 19 1991 04:502
    
    At last I've found a sanctuary for my mindless drivel.
934.13SSDEVO::EGGERSAnybody can fly with an engine.Thu Dec 19 1991 07:481
    Welcome to the club.
934.14MICKY::SIMPSONTue Dec 24 1991 02:466
    
    It is so nice to be welcomed in this chummy notes file.  Not like them
    cretins in Soapbox.  All they ever do is have a go at people.....
    
    It's nice to know that there is like minded morons who can indulge
    themselves with a diet of twaddle, drivel and bullsheet.
934.15MR4DEC::EGRACEbounce! bounce! bounce! *DENT*!Thu Dec 26 1991 09:139
    
    >...All they ever do is have a go at people.....
                         
    
    I hate it when that happens.
    
    
    
    E Grace
934.16Before SNLEXCENT::CALLAHANWed Jan 22 1992 11:138
    This goes back much further than SNL. I recall it being a standard joke on
    Jack Benny TV shows.

    	- Jack does some careless thing that, through a series of improbable 
    	  coincidences, immediately has disastrous consequences.
    	- Jack says "I hate it ...", implying that this isn't the first time.
    
    Joe
934.17two years later.....CALS::GELINEAUThu Dec 23 1993 07:3710
re: .1


It was Christopher Guest (a.k.a. Mr.Jamie Lee Curtis) who appeared in the
"hate when that happens/know what you mean" sketches with Billy Crystal.  
You can find Mr. Guest playing the six-fingered man in "The Princess Bride"
and Nigel in "This is Spinal Tap".


--angela