They use this a lot on The Goldbergs which takes place in suburban Philadelphia. As in:
ANGRY PARENT: Don’t you [do this action]!
ANGRY CHILD: Oh I’m doing it! I’m doing it but good!
Is this an East Coast regionalism? Growing up in central Illinois, I never heard it used in everyday speech.
The context I usually heard it in was “If you don’t stop doing that, you’re going to get it but good!”
California 1960-70s.
I’ve never ever heard that phrase and I’ve lived on both coasts. It doesn’t make any sense to me honestly…
I grew up in Massachusetts and currently live in New Jersey. I heard that phrase for much of my life, but can’t remember hearing it much these last few years. I think it might be an older phrase that has largely disappeared from use.
It’s similar to “And how!” Right? It’s not something I’m really used to seeing or hearing, but I’m familiar enough with it to know what the thread title was referring to (and I’ve never seen The Goldbergs).
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and have never heard it.
I grew up in Indiana and have heard it all of my life.
It’s a superlative, like “I’m gonna get you but good!” meaning I’m really *really *gonna get you! I’d have heard it from my mom, who I think was raised in Indiana, but I’m sure I’ve heard it in both Wisconsin & California, the two main places I’ve lived.
I heard it growing up (Maryland, 60’s).
This website claims that it was first used in the U.S. in the 1950’s:
I’ve lived almost my whole life in Ontario (Canada), and I’m quite familiar with the phrase. I’ve almost certainly used it myself.
I’m British – this phrase-and-meaning not used in the UK, to the best of my knowledge. Oddly enough, I discovered the expression in a US-set thriller by a British author – who knows how he had come across it? It’s a usage which – as with many Americanisms – I really like: splendidly pithy / punchy. I’m a bit surprised to find that it is, seemingly, far from universal in the States.
New Englander here. levdrakon’s example is the only sense I’ve ever heard it (similarly, “did you hear about Billy? Those Wexler boys fucked him up but good”), which to me sounds very different than the example given in the OP.
In that case, you are probably also familiar with Dewey, Cheatham and Howe. “And how” is a similar regionalism, I think.
The usage sounds exactly the same to me, but, you’re right, I think I’ve only heard it in your context, though. This is one of those phrases I’m familiar with and may have even used, but I have no idea whether it was usual in my neighborhood in Chicago growing up or something I picked up along the way.
Yes, I remember hearing that one a lot, too, though I was never aware that “and how” was limited to a specific region either. I think I remember seeing the “Dewey, Cheatham and Howe” reference in an old comedy movie, though I can’t recall which one offhand.
I’m familiar with the “…and how” expression as an intensifier (grew up in New York area, 70s-80s), but I always thought that, in the Dewey joke, it simply meant “And by what means shall we cheat him?”
I see now that I was wrong – but I’ll bet a lot of people who aren’t familiar with “and how” as an intensifier get the joke in the way I always did until just now.
The phrase is fairly common in Michigan. Yep, used as an intensifier.
I think both “and how” and “but good” are not regionalisms. They were standard US slang in the 40s and 50s. Which was starting to fade from common use in the 60s. I heard it a lot growing up, both in person and on nationally distributed TV.
It’s been a few years since I’ve heard it in any current context. And I’ve never heard it used by somebody born in the 1970s or later.
It’s used in the '80s movie Working Girl set in New York/New Jersey. After a character’s shenanigans are discovered, another character says, “If I were you… I’d go to your office and take a long last look around. Because in about five minutes, I’m going to see to it that you get the boot… but good!”