"____, not so much" is from?

What the OP said. Where did that come from.

The Turks had a grand time in the 1910s.
The Armenians, not so much.

I’m thinking Borat, where he insults the minister’s wife. But I’m sure it predates that.

The first time I heard it and remembered it was from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

Here is an interesting history of “not so much.”

To me, it sounds like something a stereotypical Jewish person would say. I hear it in my mind in a Yiddish accent.

(Nice to see that someone remembered the Armenians, by the way.)

Yay! Buffy wins. :smiley:

(There are 24 "Not so much"es in the Buffy Dialogue Database, which includes Angel transcripts. But I agree that Stewart has been the phrase’s life support.)

The article pinkfreud links to is an interesting example of the new driving out the old in popular memory.

What a coincidence that “Mad About You” featured a punchline that Paul Reiser regularly used in his stand-up act! He’s certainly the one who put the phrase into public currency, just as comedian Richard Lewis credits himself with putting the phrase “from hell” into the language, although few people today would recognize that.

So Jon Stewart picked up the phrase from another Jewish NYC-area comedian. Doesn’t give him bragging rights. But he’s on-the-air today and Paul Reiser isn’t. And that’s all she wrote.

Before I read the article pinkfreud linked to, I was going to post that my first recollection of it is from Paul Reiser in Mad About You followed a year or so later on Friends, particularly Chandler. And, well, I’m going to post it anyway, because I like Mad About You. The first season friend of Selby, not so much.

I would have said pretty much the same thing. Chandler came to mind first, but that’s probably because I have seen a lot of reruns of Friends lately! But Paul Reiser came to mind right after!

What? No Firefly fans in this thread? The phrase was used in the intro.

(Yeah, I know, it wasn’t the earliest use of the phrase, but it’s the first one I thought of.)

It’s weird how so many phrases that we take for granted as sort of general English idioms are actually pop cultural references that have a specifically known birth. Or maybe that’s just me.

Jack the Ripper gets no respect, I tell you!

I don’t know who that is, but if he’s also responsible for “of doom”, I would like to cut him to pieces.

I still like whatever. Not so much. . .not so much.

Before checking the link I associated it in my mind with Buffy. Now, how about a similar phrase- “not a (big) fan”? -Also, Buffy?

I was personally using “I am a big (blank) fan”* and “not a big (blank) fan” and “not a big fan” circa 1996 if it helps. I thought I made it up, but I am sure I picked it up from somewhere. I have never seen a Buffy anything - though opf course I could have picked it up from someone who had.

  • no, not like, “I am a Brave’s fan,” more like, “I’m a big fan of cheese,” or “Not a big fan of mid-terms”

A high school friend who went to Hawaii for college was amazed at some of the phrases my buddies and I learned. For instance, “<blank> as shit,” as in, “That movie was funny as shit!” She thought it was hysterical.

Jack gets all sorts of respect. The hookers? Not so much. :stuck_out_tongue:

Clever. :slight_smile:

Don’t tell Joe Rogan.