I say, I say, I say - You'll never guess who I bumped into at the opticians!

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EVERYBODY!!!

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Where did the tradition of saying "I say I say I say" to signify a joke come from? Very strange and perplexing indeed...

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Jamaica?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know but I'm sure I've heard it before. I mentioned it on another thread a few months back. I need someone to confirm that people actually used to do this and it's not just my imagination.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I know it's done, and it seems it was more common In The Old Days. I just hadn't heard it in a while. It seems charming and quaint, so I wonder where it came from.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I believe Foghorn Leghorn originated this tradition.

― Bumfluff, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

it must have been the person who told the joke

"Take my wife...Please".

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Henny Youngman?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:13 (twenty-one years ago)

In Dorset?

― Ricardo (RickyT), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Nude?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

What is this thread about, anyway?

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Jamaica?

No, she went of her own accord.

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not saying my wife's fat.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/images/arthur_atkinson.jpg

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I once played a 1940s music hall comedian in a time travel play at primary school. I was supposed to leap on stage and say "Good afternoon ladies and gentleman, and welcome to Margate" or something, but I got ahead of myself and said "I say, I say, I say - welcome to Margate!"

I totally got away with it.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the I say I say i say is a punctuation tool from music hall days. It indicated the begining of a new joke, and the need for the audiance to stop laughing at the previouse joke. It also created a nice seguey between jokes. British Music hall comedy was quite unlike Youngman's style, jokes were told in the form of a continuing aimless sketch. The styalised stuffyness of the joke tellers only adding to the impact of their sometimes raucus commedy. The I say I say I say is i think a play on upperclass gentlemen's club talk. Music hall was not simply a venue for the spectacular and bizzarre it was also a key location for the playing out of class tensions and roles.

― lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

this summer I walked past Sir Harry Lauder's house! it is way up in the mountains.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I totally got away with it.

I think Christian Bale would've done a better job.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Who is the prototypical Southern squire that Foghorn et al are derived from? Colonel Sanders?

― andy, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ronald McDonald

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Lyndon B. Johnson

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to school with a guy named Stonewall. He was nicknamed Stony and it turned out to be a very appropriate name. I think he went out with Crystal, who was also very aptly named.

― andy, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.rarebeatles.com/sheetmu/solo/ssmpsay.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 23:13 (twenty-one years ago)

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