March 04, 2008

Curious George: Uphill Both Ways? Where did the expression come from that goes something like, "When I was a kid, we had to walk barefoot to school in the snow, and it was uphill both ways!"?

The link only states that it was before 1979. I like to imagine it was a Jack Benny routine, but I have absolutely no basis for that whatsoever. Did it come from American television? If so, what show? It just seems ridiculously commonplace and yet we should be able to somehow trace it back to the exact point it entered the memetosphere.

posted by petebest 16 years ago
  • Not the answer, but related: The Four Yorkshiremen. Luxury! (and on youtube)
  • Earliest I ever heard was on an old Cosby album.
  • This guy claims it was early Jewish humor, which seems kind of right to me. On the other hand, this was somewhat amusing.
  • I think it was M.C. Escher.
  • TUM ftw AGAIN, dammit.
  • I think we need to promote TUM to the blue, just so the rest of us have a chance here in the minor leagues again... Anyone want to chip in towards the five bucks?
  • HELL NO, i think we should keep her for ourselves... besides, since when is the blue a promotion?
  • Yeah, wtf?
  • Since The Underpants Monster's comment was so heavily praised, I figured that I would look up who M.C. Escher was. Nothing worse than not getting a joke that everyone is loving, right? So I thought it was MC Escher and I thought he was some rapper. I thought maybe he had some song I didn't know or something like that. So I googled him and found out who he is. Now I have discovered I am even more of an idiot than I previously had realized, and I still don't get the joke.
  • *shakes cane You damn kids get off my catchphrases!!
  • MonkeyFilter: I still don't get the joke
  • and Bernockle, M.C. Escher is known for drawing optical illusions of staircases that seem to go on endlessly...
  • His child hears About how hard it was Growing up without It's then that you realize It's all a part of Sharing what you've learned Why let your children Walk the path of thorns When there is a path paved with knowledge
  • (Psst...I'm starting a fund to pay someone to kidnap TUM and send her to the Galapagos islands, where, hopefully, she won't have internet access. This will make my comments seem wittier due to the lack of competition. And yours, too, if you contribute.)
  • I think you want to send her to Pakistan. They ujust flick a switch and cut off the whole country's internet.
  • The earliest place I heard it was on an old Bill Cosby record, I think it was "I Started Out As A Child" but it could have been "When I Was A Kid". His father says it. Judging by the enormous laugh it gets (there was an audience) I don't think it was a well-known joke at the time, whether it was his joke or not. And those records were HUGE sellers, very very popular. I would be surprised if the popularity of the Cos' version of that gag is not the patient zero of the popularity of that gag in general today. You know, thinking about it now (on fake preview) it could have been Bill Cosby "Himself", his concert movie, which played about every 15 minutes on HBO in the mid '80s, and was the basis, sort of for much of the early episodes of the Cosby Show.
  • The Callypigous Islands? Isn't that where Darwin found the Giant-Assed Turtles?
  • OK...put me down for $5.
  • Singing the "Dad is great! He gives us the chocolate cake!" song now
  • *addresses large box* *starts licking stamps*
  • Okay, Cosby 1964 is the current leader. Can we get a second opinion on that? I'll see if I can find that one dirtdirt, thanks for the pointer. And you should all be ashamed for picking on the best and the brightest lemon-scented monkey around! Do you take Paypal?
  • Noooo! No, we KEEPS her! We keeps TUM. (I mean, I accepted years ago that I'm not funny.)
  • Well, can we just put her hands in mittens so she can't type very well?
  • Nooooo! We keeps her just the way she is! No messin' with the TUM!
  • You mess with my TUM and you'll have me to answer to. And I am VERY GROUCHY LATELY.
  • Second.
  • I CAN HAS MITNZ?
  • No messin' with the TUM! *rubs the TUM* *rubs a little bit harder* *rubs the TUM till her back leg starts kicking* Wheee! She likes it.
  • Can she type in white text?