Catchphrases

We use catchphrases as social shorthand to convey meaning, and to create connection (Harris et al., 2008). Catchphrase was beautifully detailed by Mackay (1841, 1892), who said: "walk where we will, we cannot help hearing from every side a phrase repeated with delight, and received with laughter, by men with hard hands and dirty faces, by saucy butcher-lads and errand-boys, by loose women, by hackney-coachmen, cabriolet-drivers, and idle fellows who loiter at the corners of streets. Not one utters this phrase without producing a laugh from all within hearing. It seems applicable to every circumstance, and is the universal answer to every question; in short, it is the favourite slang of the day, a phrase that, while its brief season of popularity lasts, throws a dash of fun and frolicsomeness over [our] existence" (p. 240). Got to love those loose women. 

It was always a thing in our family to remember trite straplines and catchphrases from popular culture: whether the source is movies, TV shows, and advertising. We then pepper our conversation - often inappropriately - with them. Many of our family favourites have long legs indeed, surviving forty plus years. For example, the response to a recent purchase "yeah, but it's a Clayton's one" (i.e., fake; Wikipedia, 2024a); in response to needing to find some information while talking to family, responding "one moment caller" (scripted American-style responses used by Telecom NZ - co-owned by AT&T and Bell Atlantic, and often miss-pitched in the early 1980s - we use this as a filler for ANY pause while we rummage); and, in response to "what's for dinner?", the response "lots of Noodles!" (which was an instant noodles product. The brand itself is lost to the mists of time).

We also tend to reply to infomercial straplines in a catch and response way with "send no money now, we will bill you!" and "But wait, there's more!". While Culley (2022) suggests that the latter of these two catch phrases is QUITE old indeed - having arisen in the USA in 1949, in preparing a television ad for Vitamix blenders - when I viewed the ad itself, neither catchphrase is in the ad. I was unable to find any reference dated earlier than 1977; finding a Fossil magazine ad in Scientific American for "send no money now" (Lester, 1977). However, Script to Screen (2021) suggests that both "But wait, there's more!" and "send no money now, we will bill you" both arose from the Ginsu knives ad (Culley, 2022; The Museum of Classic Chicago Television, 2012; Wikipedia, 2024b), which is where my family remembers these two catchphrases from. It seems quite possible that "send now money now" was already a stock phrase. However, I think it was Ginsu's ad which popularlised the "how much would you pay?" and the "well, we will send you six precision steak knives for FREE!" (The Museum of Classic Chicago Television, 2012).

See below for the 1949 Vitamix ad, and the 1980 Ginsu knife ad.

Language is a fascinating thing.

Sam

References:

Culley, T. (2022). “But wait! There’s more.” Papa Bernard and the First TV infomercial. Academia Letters, 2022(1), 4676, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL4676

Harris, R. J., Werth, A. J., Bures, K. E., & Bartel, C. M. (2008). Social movie quoting: What, why, and how?. Ciencias Psicologicas, 2(1), 35-45. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260458479_Social_movie_quoting_What_why_and_how

Lester, H. A. (1977). The response to acetylcholine. Scientific American, 236(2), 106-120. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0277-106

Mackay, C. (1841). Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions (reprinted 1892). Richard Bentley.

Script to Screen. (2021, May 27). Infomercial. https://www.scripttoscreen.com/infomercial/

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television. (2012, February 3). The Ginsu (Commercial Offer, 1980) [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wzULnlHr8w

Vitamix. (2021, June 18). Original 1949 Vitamix Infomercial - Papa Barnard [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Rm5IzzGPzQA

Wikipedia. (2024a). Claytons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytons

Wikipedia. (2024b). Ginsu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginsu