Where does the phrase of shock “WhatwhatWHAT?” said very quickly with a large emphasis on the last “what” which is also drawn out more than the others come from?
When I google this I only get hits for “What what” vis a vis South Park and Samwell, but AFAIK that phrase does not occur in the song or episode although I could be wrong.
Here it is from South Park. Samwell came many, many years after South Park, it’s also totally different. They only reason they’re related is because Butters ‘covered’ Samwell’s song on South Park, but the ‘what what’ things what nothing to do with each other.
It’s been a “catch phrase” of Southpark - Kyle’s Mom - since Southpark began.
Eric Morcambe of Morcambe and Wise used it as a catchphrase. I doubt whether this influenced South Park, however.
It was used quite a bit in McHale’s Navy as a catchphrase used by Joe Flynn as the commander. This was back in the early 60s, though the show was in reruns for years, so Parker and Stone may have seen it.
I want a Morcambe and Wise/South Park crossover now.
He did? Are you sure? That doesn’t sound familiar to me. He used to say “Eh?” or “What do you think of it so far?” and such, but never “What what what.”
Maybe you’re thinking of Neddie Seagoon.
I think Harry Secombe as Neddie Seagoon in the Goon Show predates that… (final paragraph)
I have solved this mystery (I think).
I now think it started, with the inflections and phrasings we all now associate with Kyle’s mom from South Park, with A Christmas Story.
At about 40 minutes in, the infamous tire-changing scene takes place. In chapter 15 (The soap connoisseur), at 43:35, Ralphie’s mother makes a phone call to his friend Schwartz’s mom, to tell her that Ralphie learned the word “fudge” (only he didn’t say fudge) from her son.
Mrs. Schwartz can be heard clearly over the phone throughout the scene, and upon learning the news that her son has a potty mouth, she uses the phrase in what is now it’s familiar cadence.
I couldn’t find a clip of this anywhere on the internet, so I quickly ripped and clipped the movie so y’all can hear it for yourselves.
Check it out. The evidence is at 1:25 for anyone who can’t sit thru the clip.
I disagree.
Mrs. Schwartz, to put it in musical terms, says “what what what” as if they were all quarter notes, although admittedly there’s a slight emphasis on the last “what,” and it’s also a little longer.
Kyle’s Mom says “what what what” as if the first two “what’s” are eighth notes, one right after the other, and the last “what” is a higher pitch and longer.
It is very close, so close that if it came after South Park it would seem influenced by it. Perhaps SP was influenced by the movie. But in my opinion it isn’t the one I had in mind. Maybe it’s sort of like the infamous “evolution of the Stereotypical Oriental theme” thread we had awhile back in that there were a lot of proto-whatwhatWHATs, but South Park cemented the actual one in everyone’s brains.
I still say Joe Flynn of McHale’s Navy is the blatantly obvious answer.
Can you locate a sample so we can hear it? I remember watching the show a handful of times as a kid (I love Ernest Borgnine), but don’t remember seeing this in the show (it probably just wasn’t a part of the episodes I saw).
The goblin sappers in warcraft 2 said “whatwhatWHAT!?” when you clicked on them.
It’s not the same the opposite effect. With seagoon, the what’s (of which there were never as few as 3 as I recall) where getting higher and faster. The OP describes his as " a large emphasis on the last “what” which is also drawn out more than the others".
Are you sure? This website seems to have all the clips from the game, but I don’t hear a “whatwhatWHAT!?” or anything close to that on any of the 2 dozen or so things I clicked. I also don’t remember it from playing the game but that was like 15 years ago that I first played it and at least 10 since I last did.
This phrasing goes way back. It was in fact one of the constant ejaculations of George III and many in the 18th century made fun of him for it, particularly the novelist Fanny Burney in her court diaries.