My Google-Fu isn’t all that helpful. I can’t seem to find a definitive answer to the meaning and origins of “well slap my ass and call me Judy/Sally/Charlie/Shirley.”
It seems to be a smart-ass expression of surprise or incredulity (can someone tell me if I’m wrong about that), and there seems to be an earlier version along the lines of “Well cut off my legs and call me Shorty!” So okay, I found this in on on-line article, but the article doesn’t actually elaborate on the origins, it just says “yeah, neat, it’s similar to the Shorty one.”
So, my friends. IS it just an expression of surprise? (or does it have smarmier origins)? And where the heck does it come from?
My guess? It’s a reference to newborns. The doctor/midwife/nurse/whoever’s doing the delivery will give the baby a smack to encourage the lungs to start, and it’s also around this time that the baby is named, hence the “call me…” part. So the person using the expression would be saying that he or she was apparently naïve about something, as a newborn would be.
There are other similar expressions, though, and just because this one seems to make some kinda sense doesn’t mean it’s original, or unrelated to the others. It seems to be a general expression of surprise – so what’s thet got to do with being a newborn? I have an example from the mid-1960s that’s always amazed and amused me:
“Well pour me out and call me buttermilk”
I’ve never seen it before or since, but it’s clearly built along the same lines as the other examples.
I’ve heard the phrases, “I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, y’know,” or “I may have been born at night, but I wasn’t born last night” for when you think someone’s trying to take advantage of you.
I’m of the opinion that “slap my ass and call me XXX” originated in the 1980’s.
It only appears in Google Groups in 1990, but GG goes back to 1981. If it were that common in the 1980’s, it would probably appear at least once on there.
“Do something to me and call me xxx” is found at least as early as 1940, as I found a comic strip where a character said “Hit me on the head and call me shorty.”
I think you’ll find the expression originated in the phrase, “Well, slap my ass and call me Sally.”
Sally was a common name for a mule/donkey/ass back in the day. (No, not the 1960s. I meant “back in the day,” as in the 1860s and earlier.) You got such a beast of burden moving by slapping it in the butt.
The expression was a lighthearted way of calling oneself a fool – or more aptly, an ass.
So you answered two threads about smacking your ass and calling you Judy, one from 2003 and one from 2007. No offense, but what were you searching for?
LOL
I honestly have no idea.
I think the phrase popped in my head and I searched the internet to find where it’s from, after finding the answer I probably decided to inform other people about this.
I know I’ve heard some variation on this where it’s slap/smack/kick my ass and “call me white.” But Google isn’t my friend on this, hope it’s not a fever dream.