# The world's smallest violin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952 "2006-03-11T17:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/1 "2006-03-11T17:30:45Z")
In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7186172) post, **Larry Borgia** uses the phrase quoted above. What does it mean, and (for extra credit) where and when did it originate? My Google searches turned up nothing worthwhile, and there’s only one [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=56971) from waaaaay back that didn’t help either. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/2 "2006-03-11T17:31:59Z")
To get the citation ball rolling, Mr. Pink uses the expression in Reservoir Dogs. That was 1991. I’m sure that isn’t the earliest. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/3 "2006-03-11T17:33:33Z")
It means he does not have any simpathy for Borislav Milosevic complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/4 "2006-03-11T17:36:01Z")
I remember hearing it in the 70’s, and I think it had been around for a while then. I have a hazy memory of hearing it on the MASH TV series, too. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/5 "2006-03-11T17:39:15Z")
It’s an expression we used to use to indicate that you were looking for sympathy and you weren’t going to get it. It might also be used when someone offered a lame excuse. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/6 "2006-03-11T17:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=A.R. Cane] It’s an expression we used to use to indicate that you were looking for sympathy and you weren’t going to get it. It might also be used when someone offered a lame excuse. [/QUOTE] To add to this, it refers to (or is accompanied by) a gesture of rubbing one finger against another as if they were a violin and bow. As in the melancholy violin solo being used for melodramatic purposes as a cliche, and that that little violin solo was all the sympathy they were going to get from you, perhaps?? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/7 "2006-03-11T17:44:28Z")
I forgot to post the meaning: You’re getting no sympathy from me, much like \*\*A. R. Cane \*\* and **gazpacho** said. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/8 "2006-03-11T18:36:08Z")
In a 70’s era Spiderman comic, Spidey is listening to a villain whine during a fight, & says: “My heart bleeds for you, boychik. But it’s nothing the world’s ti-i-i-iniest band-aid couldn’t cure!” This is obviously related, & Marvel may have altered it to avoid a copyright issue. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/9 "2006-03-11T19:18:12Z")
My version is “Where’s my violin?” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/10 "2006-03-11T19:32:37Z")
Its a cliche of melodrama - melancholy violin music plays to evoke sympathy from the audience. It’s probably more used in parody than seriously, one example being Monty Python’s marriage guidence cousellor sketch. For decades people have been responding to complaints by sarcastically miming playing a violin. The specific phrase “world’s smallest violin” may come from Resevoir Dogs but its a minor variant on an old sarcastic response. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/11 "2006-03-11T20:17:09Z")
Thank you very much, all of you. Ignorance has been fought. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/12 "2006-03-11T20:34:22Z")
The cliched melancholy violin tune is a real one, and even has a name, [_Hearts And Flowers_](http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2002-1/thismonth/featurea.asp): it was originally written in 1893 as a piano piece by one Theodore Moses Tobiani, to which lyrics were later added. {scroll about halfway down - there’s even a sound clip}. Fascinating site, by the way. To quote from the Parlor Songs site, “That melody has often been used in cartoons and as a sarcastic symbol of sympathy for those who openly seek it when it seems undeserved. Most often accompnied by a violin miming, you’ll know it instantly when you hear it. The music was a standard played by silent movie accompanists for any scene where the heroine was pleading fo mercy from the villain.” So now you know. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/13 "2006-03-11T20:39:52Z")
The melancholy music Peter Morris mentions that comes to mind is sometimes “Hearts and Flowers” on this page [NameBright - Coming Soon](http://www.perfessorbill.com/index2.htm). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/14 "2006-03-11T21:07:54Z")
Since that seems to be settled, where did the sarcastic “My heart just bleeds purple peanut butter for you.” originate? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/15 "2006-03-11T23:59:51Z")
We used the phrase when we were kids back in the 70’s. We would say “You know what this is?” while holding up our finger and thumb together and moving them around. “It’s the worlds smallest violin, playing just for you.” The phrase was to be uttered with as much sarcasm as one could manage. I always thought the phrase came from the fact that in very old movies (like black and white era), when something sad happened, violins would play. I had also always assumed therefore that the phrase was quite old even back then. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/16 "2006-03-12T00:04:47Z")
> [@](#): > > We used the phrase when we were kids back in the 70’s \*\*We \*\*used the phrase when we were kids back in the 60’s 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/17 "2006-03-12T01:35:28Z")
Yep, I third the last two posts. This expression goes back waaaay before Reservoir Dogs. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/18 "2006-03-12T01:46:29Z")
When I was a kid ('60s/'70s) we said, ‘This is the world’s smallest violin playing _My Heart Cries For You_.’ I’ve never heard that song (and I’m on the Mac, so I’ll have to find a QuickTime file if I want to), but that’s the song we referenced. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/19 "2006-03-12T01:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] When I was a kid ('60s/'70s) we said, ‘This is the world’s smallest violin playing _My Heart Cries For You_.’ I’ve never heard that song (and I’m on the Mac, so I’ll have to find a QuickTime file if I want to), but that’s the song we referenced. [/QUOTE] We always said the song is “My Heart Bleeds For You”. I was a kid in the 60s, and that’s when I heard the expression, too, mostly from my father. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952/20 "2006-03-12T03:30:40Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] The cliched melancholy violin tune is a real one, and even has a name, [_Hearts And Flowers_](http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2002-1/thismonth/featurea.asp): . [/QUOTE] Oh, wow. I didn’t know that. I love this place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-smallest-violin/347952.md?page=2)