# You like? I like! (Origin) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755 "2009-07-12T13:49:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 12, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/1 "2009-07-12T13:49:51Z")
Involves entertainment, but I’m looking for a factual answer. ‘Cabana Chat’ was a skit on _MADtv_ featuring a stereotypical type of woman who was overly-tanned and desperately trying to appear younger than her wrinkles declared. The character’s (‘Dixie’) catchphrase was, ‘You like? I like!’ It was funny because people ‘of a certain era’ would actually say ‘You like?’. (‘I like!’ was usually the response from another person, rather than the asker.) I remember adults saying ‘You like?’ and ‘I like!’ in the early-'70s. I think I remember the phrases from the 1966 film _Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN_, which featured Nancy Kwan as a South Pacific island girl who spoke pidgin English. Maybe the phrases were spoken in 1963’s _Donovan’s Reef_ and/or 1958’s _South Pacific_. In any case, the typical way the phrases were used was that an Islander or Asian character speaking pidgin English would ask, ‘You like?’ and the Caucasian character would reply admiringly or enthusiastically, ‘I like!’ The phrases seemed to become a ‘cool catchphrase’ that seemed to pop up with some frequency. To digress a little… It’s a little weird to think that our parents and grandparents were once in their 30s, and that they absorbed cultural references just as people do now with current movies and television shows. Anyway, where did the pidgin ‘You like?’ and the response originate? Which movie or show (i.e. play), and what year? Or did it originate somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/2 "2009-07-12T15:00:54Z")
Moving to Cafe Society, where you can still get factual answers, last time I looked. 🙂 **samclem** Moderator, General Questions ---
**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:** [July 16, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/3 "2009-07-16T02:11:19Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Moving to Cafe Society, where you can still get factual answers, last time I looked. 🙂 Yeah… No… How’s that working out again? :dubious: The GQ is this: What is the origin of the ‘You like?’ pidgin phrase that I remember from people in their 30s and 40s in the early-1970s? ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/4 "2009-07-16T05:13:19Z")
[Señor Wences](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUVy0hdo8RI). There’s a quick “You like? I like!” at about 0:25. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/5 "2009-07-16T05:15:22Z")
I was thinking Señor Wences too. But I’m too young to remember anything before that, so take it for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Thalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@Thalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thalion)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/6 "2009-07-16T05:27:33Z")
Perhaps you’re thinking of “All right?” “S’alright!”, from [Señor Wences?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJiYZ6QIAtY) (at about 2:45 in the clip). ---
**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:** [July 16, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/7 "2009-07-16T05:46:21Z")
> [@Thalion](#): > > Perhaps you’re thinking of “All right?” “S’alright!”, from [Señor Wences?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJiYZ6QIAtY) (at about 2:45 in the clip). No, it’s not that. The image I have in my head is of a Polynesian or Asian girl who wore a pretty dress or made a meal or something, and she says ‘You like?’ (because she doesn’t speak English well). The American Hero responds, ‘I like!’ In the Señor Wences clip posted by **E. Thorp** the puppet says, ‘You like?’ and the response is ‘Yes, I like you very much.’ It’s different from what I’m thinking of, both in verbiage and in context. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/8 "2009-07-16T15:07:17Z")
Yes, I couldn’t find a very representative youtube video, though I do remember “You like? I like!” as a Señor Wences catchphrase. Could the OP be thinking of “South Pacific”? ---
**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:** [July 16, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-like-i-like-origin/502755/9 "2009-07-16T15:13:24Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#): > > Could the OP be thinking of “South Pacific”? Could be. (I mentioned it in the OP, and it predates the Señor Wences clip.) It’s been close to a year since I’ve seen _South Pacific_, so I don’t know if the exchange was in there. And if it was, it may have appeared earlier. For example, there were South Pacific and Asian themed movies in the '30s.