# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sir\_Dopey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Sir\_Dopey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Dopey)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/41 "2016-11-01T00:48:14Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I would just like to point out that, after 10 years, I don’t really care all that much. Sorry, OP - you can’t get out of it now. I concur w/MrKnowItAll re: Curly in “Idle Roomers”. Fyi - the scene involved the Wolfman – and I’m posting on Halloween!! ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/42 "2016-11-01T10:05:32Z")
Since the thread has been resurrected, can I [cite Aristophanes](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=puEfbzvyQN8C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=aristophanes+%22I+resemble+that+remark%22&source=bl&ots=V2yzTyir0R&sig=jwVLxY6Yp24mHuQi7lKT0vEBlf0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidype0pofQAhVGK8AKHUb-CaMQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=aristophanes%20%22I%20resemble%20that%20remark%22&f=false)’ Clouds, 400+ BC? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/43 "2016-11-01T10:52:07Z")
> [@Sir\_Dopey](#): > > Sorry, OP - you can’t get out of it now. 12 and a half years. Still don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfz49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@Wolfz49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfz49)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/44 "2022-09-14T17:54:57Z")
Some of you seem to be much to young…I think I first heard this from “The Bowery Bots” (1946-1958), Terrance Aloysius “Slip” Mahoney (Leo Gorcey). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/45 "2022-09-14T18:03:32Z")
Except we’ve already mentioned (a couple times) an earlier cite than that – Curly in the Three Stooges short “Idle Roomers,” 1944. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/46 "2022-09-14T18:13:41Z")
[This site](https://wordhistories.net/2020/07/03/resemble-that-remark/)’s earliest find in print is from December 1940, quoting dialogue from the movie “Melody Ranch” > “MELODY RANCH.” > (Now playing at the Tower.) > The motion picture reviewers who saw “Melody Ranch” at the Hollywood premiere had the following opinions: > […] > “Melody Ranch” is no ordinary Gene Autry 1 western. It has many extra favors. Long-legged Tap-Dancer Ann Miller 2 swings through a lively dance routine, croons a torchy ballad. Jimmy Durante 3 garbles his Bronxese with dialogue like, “I resemble dat remark! . . . . Dat’s libel . . . . It’s libel to make me mad!” Curiously, the Three Stooges short is not mentioned, but this researcher seems to have only looked in print sources. The July 1944 instance in a syndicate newspaper column that is cited suggests it being a well-worn joke by then: > “I want a little more security than a 20th Century contract, a Racing Form and a hotel room,” she growled beautifully. > “ **I resemble that remark** ,” I said, stealing a line from several hundred masters of ceremonies. “Georgie has a beautiful home in Hollywood or Beverly Hills or somewhere.” ---
**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:** [September 14, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/47 "2022-09-14T18:33:58Z")
> [@Wolfz49](#): > > I think I first heard this from “The Bowery Bots” (1946-1958), The Bowery Bots were truly far ahead of their time. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Jimmy Durante 3 garbles his Bronxese with dialogue like, “I resemble dat remark! Jimmy Durante is a perfect candidate to say it. We all (and I mean me too) forget how huge he was back in the 20s and 30s, when he was the king of nightclubs during Prohibition and a favorite for radio and movies (later television). If you can’t hear it coming out of his mouth, you’re missing a treat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/48 "2022-09-14T19:01:50Z")
A book of English phrases I found earlier on Google Books dates “I resemble that (remark)” to “c.1920”, but does not provide a source, unfortunately, so I left it out of that post. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfz49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@Wolfz49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfz49)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/49 "2022-09-17T23:28:58Z")
Thanks for the update. I knew it went back further than “The Bowery Boys,” that’s just the first time I remember hearing it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/50 "2022-09-17T23:43:35Z")
:Flash from the past: I started from the thread beginning, not noticing dates; and got ambushed by a post by Eve, haven’t seen that name in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/51 "2022-09-18T01:08:48Z")
Personally, I associate the phrase with Bugs Bunny, but I also know that he’s almost certainly not the source, because most of what Bugs said and did were references to older entertainers. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/52 "2022-09-19T21:01:23Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Zombie thread and all that, but I agree – the expression has always struck me as an extremely feeble and un-funny “funny”. And it’s a malaprop of a malaprop. It should have said > I represent that remark. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/53 "2022-09-20T23:41:43Z")
Ninjaed by 11 years! ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/54 "2022-09-21T04:42:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Why, you. I oughta… Ohhh… Wise guy, eh? > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > 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!” You probably won’t see much Quickdraw nowadays, on account o’ his leetle sidekick. My favourite Grouch: _[Pearl-Clutching Matron]:_ “Why I never…!” _[Groucho]:_ “There’s your problem. Maybe you should once in a while.” Years ago my step-sister told me to stop teaching her kids that line. “They still have elderly great-aunts who talk like that.” ---
**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:** [September 21, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/55 "2022-09-21T16:57:33Z")
Again, I’m 99.9% sure that Groucho never said that. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678/56 "2022-09-22T06:00:46Z")
I’m about 49% certain I once heard Redd Foxx respond with “And you probably never will!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-i-resemble-that-remark/233678.md?page=2)