# Rudolph, you'll go down in history (like \_\_\_) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727 "2013-12-19T14:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/41 "2013-12-19T18:54:58Z")
Central Illinois. Pinocchio, Monopoly, George Washington. All four syllables, so the rhythm works out. Edit: For the one’s who don’t know what we’re talking about, here’s topic I posted a few years back: > **[Who came up with "extra" lyrics of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=496823)** > > Ever since I was a little kid I’ve known the Rudolph song to have extra lyrics that are “chanted” in the background at the end of each line. Now I know I’ve heard this on the radio before, so I don’t think this is something we just made up as kids.... ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/42 "2013-12-19T19:05:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Always heard “Like Lincoln” when I was growing up. This would be California in the 1980s. To round out the other options: …call him names (“Like Dumbo!”) …reindeer games (“Like football!”) Also, on “Santa came to say,” a hearty “Ho Ho Ho!” and “…as they shouted out with glee,” was followed by “Yippee!” The toothpaste reference would have been lost on us, I’m afraid - we never had that brand around here. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/43 "2013-12-19T19:15:50Z")
We never had this when I grew up, in the 80s, in the UK. However, my daughter (who is very nearly 8) has recently begun singing “Like a lightbulb!” at various points during the song. That is the only call-out she is using, but she uses it a lot. So, “You’ll go down in history… like a lightbulb!” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/44 "2013-12-19T19:19:10Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > We never had this when I grew up, in the 80s, in the UK. > > However, my daughter (who is very nearly 8) has recently begun singing “Like a lightbulb!” at various points during the song. That is the only call-out she is using, but she uses it a lot. So, “You’ll go down in history… like a lightbulb!” Get her to change it to “like the incandescent lightbulb,” and she’s not wrong. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/45 "2013-12-19T19:22:20Z")
I can’t remember. I remember the Pinocchio and Monopoly lines, but don’t remember the name at the end. I also don’t recall this version being sung often at all among my classmates in the mid-80s. Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/46 "2013-12-19T19:25:13Z")
Lightbulb, Pinocchio, Monopoly, George Washington. I grew up in Alabama in the mid-1980’s. Although when I have kids, I’m gonna teach them to say Linda Lovelace, thanks **Czarcasm**. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/47 "2013-12-19T19:26:17Z")
I was born in the early 70’s in Virginia and never heard any extra words after “You’ll go down in history.” ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/48 "2013-12-19T19:36:30Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > George Washington. I’m in Ohio. Been that way since I was a kid, and it’s what I still hear when the small kids around here are singing it. I also concur with “like Pinocchio” Same here, also in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/49 "2013-12-19T19:45:04Z")
Never heard of anything after “history.” Grew up on Long Island. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/50 "2013-12-19T19:57:39Z")
Minneapolis, now; grew up in western Wisconsin; born in Colorado. Pinocchio, Monopoly, Ho ho ho, Yee-haw!, and Columbus. As is right and proper. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/51 "2013-12-19T19:58:06Z")
The only addition I’ve heard is “like Monopoly”, and that was rare. I grew up in Atlanta in the mid-80s. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/52 "2013-12-19T20:03:16Z")
Southern California, early 1970s Like a lightbulb (twice) Like Pinocchio Like Monopoly Ho ho ho Like toothpaste Like Columbus ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/53 "2013-12-19T20:07:30Z")
Growing up, I don’t remember doing it at the end. We did Pinocchio, Monopoly, etc., but I can’t remember the one after “history”. Nowadays, I give it the Bart Simpson treatment. My wife, from Georgia, always sang George Washington. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/54 "2013-12-19T20:10:06Z")
Columbus. Western New York, mid 1970-1980s. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/55 "2013-12-19T20:59:12Z")
…Atilla the Hun. This is from Springfield, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (at least that’s how it appears in the closing credits of _The Simpsons Movie_). Actually, I am from the San Francisco area, and never heard “like (something)” applied to that song except at the end of _The Simpsons Christmas Special_. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/56 "2013-12-19T21:11:33Z")
Monopoly and Magellan. Grew up in Montana. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/57 "2013-12-19T21:16:10Z")
Lincoln , also football. Raised in NC. Tried to get my canadian kids to go with René Lévesque, but they also say Lincoln, & monopoly ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/58 "2013-12-19T21:37:41Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Born in NW Indiana. > > “Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio!)” > “Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly!)” > “You’ll go down in history (like Columbus!)” This is the same for me, and I grew up in Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/59 "2013-12-19T21:40:48Z")
> [@Zyanthia](#): > > The song ends with “You’ll go down in history.”, there’s nothing after it so I voted other. > > Grew up in North Dakota/South Dakota/Arizona Ditto. Never ever heard anyone add bits to the song. Melbourne Australia ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727/60 "2013-12-19T22:21:47Z")
I’m a native Southern Californian, and I never heard the additions until I heard my brother and nieces singing them. I assumed it was the influence of his Minnesota in-laws. The recent live broadcast by the RiffTrax guys (also Minnesotans) of _Santa Claus vs. The Martians_ had a series of slides showing as people entered the theater. One of them was something like, “If you say, ‘Like a flashlight,’ instead of, ‘Like a light-bulb,’ you are literally the worst monster in history.” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rudolph-youll-go-down-in-history-like-___/676727.md?page=4)