See ya later alligator sayings9/15/2023 The idiom restriction aside, I suspect there may be a term like iambic pentameter or Oom-Pah-Pah to describe the rhythm these phrases make when spoken. But growing up we had a book called "See You Later, Alligator" it contained the alligator and crocodile phrases, but it also had ones that were something like "See you on the veranda, panda" and "See you in pajamas, llamas." Because these opening phrases are not idioms or figures-of-speech, my ideal term does not include them.Īnd even organism may not quite capture the terminal phrase, as shown in Jeebs' example using a title in 2002's Men in Black II: "Let's make it happen, cap'n." So I have generalized it to rhyme. Now I wanted the term also to include the quotes from Community, most of which (an example being "You're on your own, Al Capone") are preceded by a phrase that is not a salutation. Then I remembered other examples from the musical number Telephone Hour in the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie, in which teenyboppers greet each other on the phone with phrases like What's the story, morning glory?Īnd I've found several pages of lesser-known but valid examples of what I wish to describe, some examples being "So long, King Kong" and "Mañana, iguana." So I was tempted to label this question "Term for ', '." I found a phrase that loosely encapsulated these with the Wikipage for Parting Phrases. The most familiar instance is likely "See you later, alligator." And because it brings to memory the similar "In a while, crocodile," It hits cinemas on July 11 and stars the incredibly good Kaya Scodelario.Browsing the web, I came across this image of the cast of the television show Community using a type of structure familiar to me, and I wondered if there's a name for it. A lot of similar phrases from that time included the likes of “toodle-oo tofu” and “so long, dai-kong” so, uh, rhyming was obviously a real hit with the kids in the 50s.Īnd if you wanna meet an alligator you’d wanna see way, way later (if at all), check out the trailer for the upcoming flick ‘ CRAWL‘ and give yourself the heeby-jeebies in a big way. You could say that ‘see you later alligator’ was the ‘lit’ or ‘fam’ of the Baby Boomer generation, albeit, an incredibly lame version, but you know it would have been all the bloody rage back in the day. “The ‘alligator’ is an all-encompassing term and relieves the party of having to recite several names,” writer, Lester Rand, says. It really breaks down the concept, perhaps a little too far: There is a heap of these articles stretching from 1951 to around 1954, but my favourite excerpt is from a piece titled, ‘Do Kids Speak English?’ which is a question I feel like I ask myself more every day. Yep, lame adults have been trying to decipher teen slang for decades. Unreal.Īccording to the website, Word Histories, it was first written about by Suzanne Kramer in 1951 in the US publication, Banner-Tribune, as part of an article titled, “Teen Biz,” which was just a teen slang translation which included the phrase, among some others. That’s right, ‘see you later, alligator’ started as ~cool~ and ~hip~ teen slang. Now, I was under the impression that the phrase came from the song, but upon digging a little deeper, it appears ‘see you later, alligator’ originated the same way most of our bizarre phrases do – teenagers. The song’s popularity skyrocketed when it was re-recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1955. You may also be aware that the phrase features heavily (read: almost entirely) in a song literally titled, See You Later, Alligator, written and first recorded by American singer-songwriter, Bobby Charles in 1954. Don’t worry, it’s not racist or anything, so you’re cool to keep using it if that’s your jam, but if you’re wondering where the strange phrase actually came from, keep reading, pals.Īs you very likely know, it’s simply a way of saying goodbye, often responded to with ‘in a while, crocodile’ because, you know, rhyming. It’s a phrase we use from time to time without giving much thought to its origins.
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