# Not so much "not so much", please. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 30, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188 "2007-04-30T17:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/21 "2007-04-30T21:59:47Z")
[QUOTE=George Kaplin] Another one is ‘the internets’. Makes you sound like such a geek. [/QUOTE] I for one welcome our new, geek overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/22 "2007-04-30T22:11:17Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Did it just blast onto the SDMB scene, or am I crazy. . .or just randomly selecting threads today in which people use it. [/QUOTE] This article irritates me. So much explanation, and so little clarity. I thought it was common knowledge that the etymology of both “yadda yadda yadda” and “not so much” is Yiddish. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/23 "2007-04-30T22:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=George Kaplin] Another one is ‘the internets’. Makes you sound like such a geek. [/QUOTE] This is hugely ironic. Don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/24 "2007-04-30T22:19:39Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Prolly shouldn’t mention how much “le sigh” irritates me, as a Francophone of middling ability. 🙂 [/QUOTE] You know, I’m a francophone, and until recently I hadn’t noticed that French uses articles more frequently than English. So every time I heard these jokes (usually with “le” pronounced as “laaaayyyyyYYYYYYYYYYyy” or something :rolleyes: ;)), I wondered what was up with that. Why did they think that you put “le” in front of every other word in French? But a few weeks ago I helped my flatmate with her English assignment, and I finally understood. She put “the” in a lot of places where it just didn’t go, but when I tried to translate what she’d written to French to see why she wrote it this way, I found out that it was a literal translation of correct French sentences. So now I understand. “Le sigh” still doesn’t make any sense, though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/25 "2007-04-30T22:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] This article irritates me. So much explanation, and so little clarity. I thought it was common knowledge that the etymology of both “yadda yadda yadda” and “not so much” is Yiddish. [/QUOTE] Damnation. I meant to link to **Lib** ’s post. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/26 "2007-04-30T22:33:27Z")
For me, it’s threads with ‘MMP’ in the title - I haven’t a clue what it means, but there must be, like, one of those every single damn week. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/27 "2007-04-30T22:48:39Z")
I’ll set the over/under line on the previous post at 3. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/28 "2007-04-30T22:53:38Z")
[QUOTE=George Kaplin] Another one is ‘the internets’. Makes you sound like such a geek. [/QUOTE] I’ve known geeks and nerds, and no geek or nerd I’ve known would be caught dead using that stupid word (or “Interweb” or “Intarweb” which is worst of all). It makes people sound like a drooling idiot, that’s what. Remember who first “popularized” the word “Internets”? Hint: He’s prez. He was a laughingstock in the geek/nerd community I knew for doing it, but then LOTS of people started using it! Jesus! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/29 "2007-04-30T22:54:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] For me, it’s threads with ‘MMP’ in the title - I haven’t a clue what it means, but there must be, like, one of those every single damn week. [/QUOTE] Don’t feel bad. I have no idea either. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/30 "2007-04-30T23:13:11Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I’ve known geeks and nerds, and no geek or nerd I’ve known would be caught dead using that stupid word (or “Interweb” or “Intarweb” which is worst of all). It makes people sound like a drooling idiot, that’s what. Remember who first “popularized” the word “Internets”? Ugh, ‘Intarweb’. How could I forget that? Only fuckwits say ‘Intarweb’ P.S. - MMP = Monday Morning Post (at least I think that’s what it means) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/31 "2007-04-30T23:25:26Z")
I like surfing on the Intarwebs! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/32 "2007-04-30T23:31:20Z")
And 3 is the number! Sorry, all bets over/under are losers. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/33 "2007-04-30T23:38:29Z")
[QUOTE=severus] You know, I’m a francophone, and until recently I hadn’t noticed that French uses articles more frequently than English. So every time I heard these jokes (usually with “le” pronounced as “laaaayyyyyYYYYYYYYYYyy” or something :rolleyes: ;)), I wondered what was up with that. Why did they think that you put “le” in front of every other word in French? [/QUOTE] Same reason that adding ‘O’ at the end of a word makes it spanish. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/34 "2007-05-01T00:15:15Z")
Starting a post with “Um,” or “Erm,” is so 2001. Please stop. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/35 "2007-05-01T00:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] I first encountered it in the sitcom “Mad About You”, in which the two leads said it to each other pretty much constantly. I think Paul Reiser was the popularizer, if not the inventor, of this term. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=silenus] Any phrase that reaches the American psyche via Buffy is one I approve of of which I approve. [/QUOTE] Two more reasons to hate it, then. ---
**Author:** ![enigm4tic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@enigm4tic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigm4tic)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/36 "2007-05-01T00:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] For me, it’s threads with ‘MMP’ in the title - I haven’t a clue what it means, but there must be, like, one of those every single damn week. [/QUOTE] it always seems to pop up around monday morning too. And getting yourself in to a big brouhaha over cliches is a great way to pop a vein in you forehead, you’ll just end of imploding in it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/37 "2007-05-01T02:26:39Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] What! Have you no fondness for Mr. LePew? [/QUOTE] Admire his persistence, for sure. The element of stalking/sexual harrassment seems a little more problematic to me as an adult than when I watched M. LePew’s seduction attempts as a youngster. Then there’s the depiction of Frenchmen as foul-smelling sex perverts, but… truth _is_ still a valid defense against libel, correct? I might also introduce the spectre of the Renault “Le Car,” whose mere existence really should’ve ended the “le _\_” convention once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/38 "2007-05-01T03:48:26Z")
I kind of like it. It has a nice dismissive quality without being too mean. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/39 "2007-05-01T03:54:00Z")
[QUOTE=severus] “Le sigh” still doesn’t make any sense, though. 😛 [/QUOTE] The cartoon character “Pepe LePew” used that phrase. When he first saw the hapless cat (who’d accidentally gotten it’s back painted with a white stripe), and thought he was “eeen Luuuuv”. And then later when he kept failing at capturing the cat’s attention and affection in return. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2007, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188/40 "2007-05-01T07:29:18Z")
I always thought, him being a skunk, i.e. an animal native to North America, that LePew was _Quebecois_, not French. So I’ve always had a slight mental inclination to label _Quebecois_ as sexual perverts. Have I been wrong all these years? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-not-so-much-please/402188.md?page=3)