# 'Get smart!' \[Jewish phrase\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961 "2026-06-17T02:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/1 "2026-06-17T02:47:03Z")
I understand that if someone tells someone to ‘get smart’ (Jewish phrase), he’s saying, ‘You’re being an idiot. Look at the situation like you’re n intelligent person.’ (More or less.) I’m not Jewish, but I get the joke with the TV series title. Is the phrase still in use, more than half a century later? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/2 "2026-06-17T02:59:15Z")
I did not know that! And I’m sure you know this, but the title was a play on what a KAOS officer woud say to an agent ordered to whack Maxwell Smart. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/3 "2026-06-17T03:26:17Z")
I’ve been around and with Jews from NYC all my life and haven’t heard the phrase. My folks spoke a lot of Yiddish and it’s not something common. I was watching TV during the last few seasons of the show and I was unaware of that connection. Do you have evidence that the phrase was ever in common use or has Jewish origins? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/4 "2026-06-17T03:52:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Do you have evidence that the phrase was ever in common use or has Jewish origins? Only that I have _only_ heard the line being uttered by a Jewish person from New York to another Jewish person from New York, in one move or another. As Mel Brooks was a producer (with Buck Henry), the title seems an obvious play. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/5 "2026-06-17T03:59:56Z")
I’m Jewish. My entire family is from Brooklyn. I have lots of close Jewish friends. I have never heard that phrase in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/6 "2026-06-17T04:17:26Z")
You heard the phrase once more than fifty years ago and assumed that it is and/or was a common Jewish phrase? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/7 "2026-06-17T04:20:08Z")
I think it’s just another snappy way of saying “wise up”. Never heard of it being a Jewish thing, despite growing up in a Jewish family in a Jewish community. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/8 "2026-06-17T04:25:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Only that I have _only_ heard the line being uttered by a Jewish person from New York to another Jewish person from New York, in one move or another. That doesn’t make it a _Jewish_ phrase. I’m surprised you’d draw such a conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/9 "2026-06-17T05:16:53Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Never heard of it being a Jewish thing “Be a smarty” on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/10 "2026-06-17T11:15:55Z")
“Smarten up!” was a (non-Jewish) phrase I heard as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/11 "2026-06-17T14:02:06Z")
Didn’t Mel Brooks sing _Don’t be stupid, be a smarty come and join the Nazi party_ …in “Springtime for Hitler”? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/12 "2026-06-17T14:05:31Z")
Yes, hence the reference above. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/13 "2026-06-17T14:14:34Z")
Maybe because of _Get Carter_ (which came later) I thought the title _Get Smart_ was a play on the title of an earlier spy film or novel (I can’t identify one, though). In the literal sense, I’m not even sure if it refers to an order from KAOS (“kill Max Smart”) or the Chief (“tell Max I have a mission for him”) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/14 "2026-06-17T15:15:20Z")
I have heard that one should “wise up”, “smarten up” (this could refer to your wardrobe), “cop on”, and so forth, but these were not quotes from the Book of Zohar nor were the speakers particularly Jewish. Is it not a universal sentiment? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/15 "2026-06-17T15:27:23Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Maybe because of _Get Carter_ (which came later) I thought the title _Get Smart_ was a play on the title of an earlier spy film or novel (I can’t identify one, though). In the literal sense, I’m not even sure if it refers to an order from KAOS (“kill Max Smart”) **or the Chief (“tell Max I have a mission for him”**) I hadn’t thought about that meaning. Not to bring politics into it, but that reminds me of the documentary [Get Me Roger Stone - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Me_Roger_Stone). FWIW one of the filmmakers (Daniel DiMauro) is from Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/16 "2026-06-17T15:43:19Z")
I think the question should be, “Was ‘get smart’ a common phrase, Jewish or not, before the 1960s TV show of the same name?” Sometimes a popular phrase falls into disuse because it becomes associated with a film or book that exposes it to a mainstream audience, like “duck soup” or “lord love a duck.” It stops being cool when outsiders know about it too. You could probably have gotten away with saying “g’day” to fellow Americans before _Crocodile Dundee_ ruined its snob appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/17 "2026-06-17T17:45:05Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’m Jewish. My entire family is from Brooklyn. I have lots of close Jewish friends. I have never heard that phrase in my life. Jewish, and I grew up in NY, and my grandparents lived in Brooklyn. Never heard it before the show aired. Maybe it is a phrase in Yiddish? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/18 "2026-06-18T00:52:24Z")
Google ngrams shows that the phrase “get smart” has been used in books since the early 1800s at least. There was a steady rise in usage between about 1920 and 1950. Interestingly, the appearance of the TV show in 1965 doesn’t seem to have any significant influence on how frequently the phrase was used. > **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=get+smart&year_start=1800&year_end=1980&corpus=en&smoothing=0&case_insensitive=false)** > > Google Ngrams: get smart, 1800-1980 ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/19 "2026-06-18T01:34:59Z")
I think the imperative phrase is usually used in the negative (“_Don’t_ get smart”), [in this sense](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+smart). Which is likely what the title of the show is playing on. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961/20 "2026-06-18T02:13:37Z")
And a newspaper database search finds numerous uses, especially in advertising of the sort “Get Smart. Buy From Us”. Interspersed are also many “don’t get smart” with me comments. No question, though, that the dual meaning of “Get” in relation to Maxwell Smart was the joke. Like everybody else I’ve never heard this as a Jewish expression. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-smart-jewish-phrase/1030961.md?page=2)