# "\_\_\_\_, not so much" is from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516 "2007-04-03T02:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/1 "2007-04-03T02:06:59Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/2 "2007-04-03T02:09:47Z")
The first time I heard it and remembered it was from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/3 "2007-04-03T02:17:19Z")
[Here](http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-10-31/weiss-catchphrasedujour/) is an interesting history of “not so much.” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/4 "2007-04-03T02:20:48Z")
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](http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hitler.html), by the way.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/5 "2007-04-03T02:28:20Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] [Here](http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-10-31/weiss-catchphrasedujour/) is an interesting history of “not so much.” [/QUOTE] Yay! Buffy wins. 😃 (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.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/6 "2007-04-03T03:04:44Z")
The article **pinkfreud** links to is an interesting example of the new driving out the old in popular memory. > [@](#): > > Though the phrase has become widely identified with Stewart, it appeared on several other television shows dating back to the early 1990s, including “Mad About You” and “Friends.” 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. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/7 "2007-04-03T03:15:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/8 "2007-04-03T03:34:36Z")
[QUOTE=PastAllReason] 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. [/QUOTE] 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! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/9 "2007-04-03T04:27:03Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/10 "2007-04-03T06:24:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/11 "2007-04-03T08:30:10Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] …comedian Richard Lewis credits himself with putting the phrase “from hell” into the language, although few people today would recognize that. [/QUOTE] Jack the Ripper gets no respect, I tell you! ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/12 "2007-04-03T09:50:30Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Richard Lewis credits himself with putting the phrase “from hell” into the language, although few people today would recognize that. I don’t know who that is, but if he’s also responsible for “of doom”, I would like to cut him to pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/13 "2007-04-03T11:32:41Z")
I still like _whatever_. Not so much. . .not so much. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/14 "2007-04-03T11:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yay! Buffy wins. 😃 (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.) [/QUOTE] Before checking the link I associated it in my mind with Buffy. Now, how about a similar phrase- “not a (big) fan”? -Also, Buffy? ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/15 "2007-04-03T18:24:51Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Before checking the link I associated it in my mind with Buffy. Now, how about a similar phrase- “not a (big) fan”? -Also, Buffy? [/QUOTE] 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” ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/16 "2007-04-03T18:47:59Z")
A high school friend who went to Hawaii for college was amazed at some of the phrases my buddies and I learned. For instance, “\ as shit,” as in, “That movie was funny as shit!” She thought it was hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/17 "2007-04-03T18:50:24Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Jack the Ripper gets no respect, I tell you! [/QUOTE] Jack gets all sorts of respect. The hookers? Not so much. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Schuyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Schuyler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schuyler)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/18 "2007-04-03T20:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Lama Pacos] 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. [/QUOTE] Clever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/____-not-so-much-is-from/398516/19 "2007-04-03T21:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] So Jon Stewart picked up the phrase from another Jewish NYC-area comedian. [/QUOTE] Don’t tell Joe Rogan.