Ever heard of these expressions.
The former is used repeatedly in “The Music Man,” but that’s the only place I’ve ever heard it.
The latter was used in some “Little Rascals” shorts, but I’ve never heard it used anywhere else, either.
Were these common expressions earlier in this Century?
I think the expression in The Music Man is “Great Honk!”. That’s the way I heard it anyway. Maybe someone who’s been in a production of it can help.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
I always heard “applesauce!” from my parents. It is like hogwash or garbage. THey said it when somebody said something that they thoughtwas complete rubbish. Maybe it was a New York thing. I can’t even guess at the origin.
It might be “Great Honk.” I assumed it was “Great Hog” because it’s set in Iowa. 
“Applesauce!” is one of the great American substitutes for “Horseshit!”
It dates back to a more innocent time when ladies and gentlemen refrained from saying “Horseshit!” in public, but still enjoyed the gratifying rush that comes from telling someone that s/he is, in fact, full of horseshit.
Other charming early 20th century euphemisms include “Baloney!” (coined, I believe, or at least popularized, by cartoonist Rube Goldberg), and “Banana Oil!” (Goldberg again, or possibly Milt Gross. Eve would know for sure.)
Interesting that food products substitue for feces, no?
How about John Brown?
I saw a woman drop her purse in a grocery story, she snatched it up rather quickly and swore, “John Brown!”
She was probably late 60s or early 70s - I caught up with her again in the check out line and her accent was a lovely South Carolina somthing - went well with her rather low and husky voice.
John Brown!
I’m a big fan of “banana oil” (properly pronounced “ba-nanner oil!”).
But ya can’t go wrong with a well-aimed “nerts!” Must be said out of the side of the mouth in 1920s showgirl fashion.
Will Rogers used “applesauce” for nonsense in his newspaper columns back in the 20’s and 30’s. He also used baloney a lot.
PUN
Will Rogers was required reading for school kids in Oklahoma.
jois:
I know that I’ve heard this before. I always assumed it referred to John Brown the militant abolitionist who led an unsuccessful slave revolt in the small town of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in 1859.
He and his followers commandeered a federal arsenal and were eventually overtaken by a militia commanded by Robert E. Lee. Brown was captured and hanged for his role in the revolt. His career as an abolitionist included many such incidents, he was a violent thorn in the side of the landed south. He was revered by many northern abolitionists but reviled amongst proslavery southerners. It would seem to make sense that his name could substitute for an expletive in the traditional south…
A web search turned up this link, if anyone’s interested.
http://www.noblesweb.org/cp4/LEBalbonitr.html
Poor guy, even 100 years later…
Growing up we used:
Tomato breath
Frog brains
Frog breath
Liver lips
Toad lips
You Tomato!
But I wish I could have heard Will Rodgers say, “Applesauce!”
John Brown was also a sick and evil man.
Wow, 00, I made it!
The expression I remember hearing a lot in The Music Man was “Ye, Gods!” I think it was the mayor’s daughter that was most fond of that phrase. Maybe the actress in the production you saw thought it was blasphemous and substituted “Great Hog!”.
mangeorge:
Pottawatomie Creek–that was not a simple execution.
And Ursa Major, the Mayor’s daughter said “Ye Gods.” Her boyfriend said “Great Hog (or ‘honk’ or whatever).”
And her father always responded “Watch your phraseology!”, a line I like using occasionally.
Jois:
“Tomato” ? “Tomato” is a slang term (dating back to the early 20th century) for a woman or girl, usually one with a somewhat pneumatic figure.
As in “Get a loada the rack on that tomato! Sumbuddy musta sewed that sweater on 'er!”
Uke
Thank you, Mjollnir, for starting this thread… it frced me to go out and rent “The Music Man” last night. I watched it a bunch when I was a kid, but I hadn’t seen it for several years. What a great movie! My personal favorite part is the mayor’s wife in the “Grecian Urns” bit. Hilarious!
Oh, and it’s most definitely “Great Honk.”
Sucks to your assmar.
Yeah, that Buddy Hackett–what a song-and-dance man!
Yes, my husband and I met eighteen years ago in a production of The Music Man at the Crystal Cathedral and Tommy does say: “Great Honk!” I always figured Meredith Wilson made up that expression to sound funny and like something people would have said during his youth in Iowa where they knew about an outside world, but not a whole lot. He also has Mayor Shin say: “The Last Days of Pompe-i-i” and one of the pick-a-little ladies says: “On the Que vive” from the French phrase, qui vivre. Zanita’s line, ye gods is apparently sort for “Yea gods and little fishes.” a classical reference of some kind.
In this play where so much care seems to have been taken not to swear, I was surprised that a line got censored from our performance since we were at a church. Mayor Shin could not say: "I’d better hear some by God tootin’ out of those horns . . . " had to be censored.
My favorite expression is: “Not on your tintype, girlie girl!” I wonder if anyone actually ever said THAT.