MudPies
11-19-2009, 02:25 PM
Just saw one of my fav Simpsons episodes the other day. The one with the Insanity Peppers and Homer goes on an epic trip. I also wondered where Bart's line "So I says to Mable, I says" comes from. Here's what someone came up with on Yahoo Answers.
Bart uses the line "So I says to Mabel, I says" in El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer. What is this in reference to?
Some a.t.s. readers have attributed this quote to George Burns and Gracie Allen, as some kind of old vaudeville routine. Others have speculated that it is the type of thing you would hear an old gossipy housewife use on a 1950s sitcom and that Bart's use of it is the joke, much like his use of Cockney phrases or those of an 1890s prospector. Consarnit.
One fan reports to have also heard the phrase on a 1995 Monty Python CD-ROM game.
But the mystery of the actual reference has been revealed at last - or at least it seems - by a reader named Funkychuck: "It's actually from [the book] The Great Gatsby. The main character meets these two women who are already deep in conversation and the one says 'so I says to Mabel, I says' as he walks in. They have a short, pointless back and forth, the main character leaves, and the lady resumes the conversation with the same line over again. I'm not 100% on this, but I had just read the book when that episode aired and I remember feeling quite smart at having caught such an obscure reference. Unless I'm completely wrong, in which case I can resume feeling stupid. Hope this helps!"
Bart uses the line "So I says to Mabel, I says" in El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer. What is this in reference to?
Some a.t.s. readers have attributed this quote to George Burns and Gracie Allen, as some kind of old vaudeville routine. Others have speculated that it is the type of thing you would hear an old gossipy housewife use on a 1950s sitcom and that Bart's use of it is the joke, much like his use of Cockney phrases or those of an 1890s prospector. Consarnit.
One fan reports to have also heard the phrase on a 1995 Monty Python CD-ROM game.
But the mystery of the actual reference has been revealed at last - or at least it seems - by a reader named Funkychuck: "It's actually from [the book] The Great Gatsby. The main character meets these two women who are already deep in conversation and the one says 'so I says to Mabel, I says' as he walks in. They have a short, pointless back and forth, the main character leaves, and the lady resumes the conversation with the same line over again. I'm not 100% on this, but I had just read the book when that episode aired and I remember feeling quite smart at having caught such an obscure reference. Unless I'm completely wrong, in which case I can resume feeling stupid. Hope this helps!"