# Who first said "I resemble that remark!"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678 "2004-03-11T11:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/21 "2011-07-25T02:33:40Z")
Well, Curly did say it. https://www.youtube.com/embed/H4Pzohbv7bw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&start=183 From “Idle Roomers” (1943): > [@](#): > > \*\* > Lady in the room sees werewolf behind Curly\*\*: Wolf! Wolf! Ahhhhhh! > **Curly** : Who, me? I resemble that remark. Still, I will not be surprised to see that this came originally from an old vaudeville routine. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/22 "2011-07-25T17:07:19Z")
> [@Anna\_Nimity](#): > > It’s from the 70’s British sitcom “Are you being served?” Mrs. Slocum was always saying that. Having watched “Are You Being Served” way too many times over the years, I don’t recall Mrs Slocum ever saying “I resemble that remark” (although maybe she did once, anything is possible). Her catch phrase was “And I am unanimous in that”, along with various innuedos concerning her “pussy” (“Tiddles” I think, although she did get a new cat later in the series) and stories about her pub outings with Mrs Axelbee. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/23 "2011-07-25T17:09:26Z")
I think I first saw it on _MASH_, so my first guess would be Groucho. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/24 "2011-07-25T17:21:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think I first saw it on _MASH_, so my first guess would be Groucho. I’m 99% sure that Groucho never said it in any of the movies, although the last few had lines that were equally stupid. He might have said it on You Bet Your Life, but I doubt that too. Nothing comes up in a search, except people who attribute it to him with no source or cite. Let’s face it. The line is Three Stooges level humor. That alone is proof that Groucho never said it. ---
**Author:** ![shazaam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@shazaam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shazaam)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/25 "2014-09-18T16:03:22Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Er, that’s it. Anyone know where this humorously mangled phrase first appeared? The first time I heard it was Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/26 "2014-09-18T17:02:20Z")
Curly used the line in “Idle Roomers”, filmed in 1943. Does anyone know of an earlier use? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/27 "2014-09-18T18:11:53Z")
Zombies don’t resemble any remarks! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/28 "2014-09-18T18:25:40Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Zombies don’t resemble any remarks! Why, you. I oughta… ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/29 "2014-09-18T20:21:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > If that proves wrong, may I suggest: some annoying c\*\*t? Zombie thread and all that, but I agree – the expression has always struck me as an extremely feeble and un-funny “funny”. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/30 "2014-09-18T23:43:18Z")
Zombie thread blah blah… I can’t believe I’m the first contestant to identify Quick Draw McGraw (1960’s Hannah-Barbera cartoon) as an utterer of the phrase. “Now hold on, thar! I resemble that statement!” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/31 "2014-09-19T04:34:10Z")
I wouldn’t rule out **Popeye**. He was a master at _mixkin_ up his words. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/32 "2014-09-19T07:39:32Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Zombie thread blah blah… > > I can’t believe I’m the first contestant to identify Quick Draw McGraw (1960’s Hannah-Barbera cartoon) as an utterer of the phrase. “Now hold on, thar! I resemble that statement!” I confess to never having heard of him before. No relation, I suppose, to Wallace and Gromit’s villainous penguin, Feathers McGraw…? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/33 "2014-09-19T08:32:27Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I’ve always attributed it to Groucho, but that may be merely because, when I hear it in my head, it is Groucho’s voice I hear. Yeah, I’m cite-less as well. Similarly, every time I hear or read the line “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley!” I think fer sure that’s a Groucho line. I’m always surprised to see that the first use, apparently, was in _Airplane!_, by Leslie Nielson, 1980. > [@vontsira](#): > > I confess to never having heard of him before. No relation, I suppose, to Wallace and Gromit’s villainous penguin, Feathers McGraw…? [Quick-Draw McGraw was an anthropomorphic horse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Draw_McGraw) of Hanna Barbera, who walked upright on his hind legs and was sometimes shown riding an actual horse-like horse. Like Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, he had a sidekick – a little burro named Baba Looey. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/34 "2014-09-19T10:38:30Z")
I would just like to point out that, after 10 years, I don’t really care all that much. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/35 "2014-09-19T13:12:25Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I wouldn’t rule out **Popeye**. He was a master at _mixkin_ up his words. 🙂 Can’t speak to the comic strip, but I’m pretty familiar with all the original Fleischer-era animated Popeyes, and I don’t recall ever hearing him say this. Pardon the sidetrack, but as we’re not likely to see a “favorite Popeye mutterings” thread, I’ll post mine here. In “I Never Changes Me Altitude,” Popeye and Bluto are engaged in a mid-air fight with their respective small planes. Bluto gives Popeye’s craft a whack with the wings of his plane and knocks him out of the open cockpit. Popeye slides down his now-vertical wing, avoiding being hurled into the air by clutching at the skin of the plane, which is gradually separated from the framework by his downward momentum. He responds by saying “This is terrible, this is terrible (tearable).” The sailor then gets his bearings, and clambers back up the still-vertical wing, patching up the skin as he goes. His positive, resourceful outlook returning, he mutters, “Hmm, just need a little mucilage on the fuselage.” All hail the great Jack Mercer, who apparently ad-libbed many of Popeye’s mutterings on the spot as the soundtracks were being recorded onto the already-finished animation. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/36 "2014-09-19T13:16:28Z")
Baba Looey was a _burro_? I always thought he was supposed to be a calf or small bull. “Queecksdraw, eet’s the golden spike!” ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/37 "2014-09-19T14:07:27Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [Quick-Draw McGraw was an anthropomorphic horse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Draw_McGraw) of Hanna Barbera, who walked upright on his hind legs and was sometimes shown riding an actual horse-like horse. Like Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, he had a sidekick – a little burro named Baba Looey. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Baba Looey was a _burro_? I always thought he was supposed to be a calf or small bull. “Queecksdraw, eet’s the golden spike!” Thanks, people. I have to wonder whether there might be any “crossover / borrowing” with the Glaswegian strip-cartoon which flourished some three-quarters of a century ago, hero thereof Lobey Dosser. Glasgow is IMO one of the world’s delightfully insane places: there was a long-running feature by a local cartoonist, which surreally mixed up Glasgow, and the Wild West. Lobey Dosser was the Sheriff of Calton Creek (Calton being a notorious Glasgow bad neighbourhood) – he rode a two-legged and permanently upright horse called El Fideldo, and had innumerable strange adventures, accompanied by much spectacularly-awful punning. > **[Bud Neill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Neill)** > > William "Bud" Neill (5 November 1911–28 August 1970) was a Scottish cartoonist who drew cartoon strips for a number of Glasgow-based newspapers between the 1940s and 1960s. Following his death, his work has attained cult status with a worldwide following. > Born as William Neill in Partick, he moved with his family shortly thereafter to Troon in Ayrshire. (He is not to be confused with William Neill, the poet, also from Ayrshire originally). Growing up there, the young Neill would spend his Sat... ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/38 "2014-09-20T05:08:24Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > Pardon the sidetrack, but as we’re not likely to see a “favorite Popeye mutterings” thread, I’ll post mine here. In “The Jeep,” Olive Oyl opens the door while an oblivious Popeye continues knocking on her head. When he realizes what he’s doing, he mutters “I didn’t know I was knocking on a Dumb Door-a!” Later, Popeye is hunting for a missing Swee’pea, and checks behind a painting, muttering “Searchez la frame!” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/39 "2014-09-20T06:21:38Z")
Izzat So? ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/40 "2014-09-20T16:17:14Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > In “The Jeep,” Olive Oyl opens the door while an oblivious Popeye continues knocking on her head. When he realizes what he’s doing, he mutters “I didn’t know I was knocking on a Dumb Door-a!” Later, Popeye is hunting for a missing Swee’pea, and checks behind a painting, muttering “Searchez la frame!” Missed the first one but remember the second one well! A classic. Another just occurred to me…in “Ghosks is the Bunk,” Bluto rigs up an abandoned house with haunted-house type gags, then lures Popeye and Olive there to have some fun. He gets the better of them for a while, until they discover Bluto behind the scenes working the gags. From this point on, the tables are turned…especially when Popeye discovers some “invisible paint” that causes him to disappear when applied. As he’s slathering it on his upper limbs, he mutters “Well, farewell to arms.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678.md?page=3)