"Christ, what a moron." MetaFilter Meme? December 10, 2019 9:29 PM Subscribe
I've tried google searching this phrase- I seem to remember it coming from a certain user on here, eventually gathering pace with others. I can't find anything. It was similar to "I accept our ___ overlords" reoccurring jokes. Does this sound familiar, can anyone chime in?
Is it possible you're thinking of Christ, what an asshole!
posted by Gorgik at 9:33 PM on December 10, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Gorgik at 9:33 PM on December 10, 2019 [6 favorites]
I never outgrew Bugs Bunny's declaration in cartoons older than I am: "What a maroon!"
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:50 PM on December 10, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:50 PM on December 10, 2019 [10 favorites]
Also, the proper format is, "And I, for one, welcome our new ____ overlords."
posted by Chrysostom at 9:51 PM on December 10, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:51 PM on December 10, 2019 [13 favorites]
Cool I guess my memory is complete garbage, thank you! Farewell and thank you for all the fishes.
posted by synthedelic at 10:34 PM on December 10, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by synthedelic at 10:34 PM on December 10, 2019 [10 favorites]
I never outgrew Bugs Bunny's declaration in cartoons older than I am: "What a maroon!"
Actual Maroons have a genuinely fascinating, and inspiring, history.
Edited to add the link I forgot the first time!
posted by tavegyl at 12:47 AM on December 11, 2019 [5 favorites]
Actual Maroons have a genuinely fascinating, and inspiring, history.
Edited to add the link I forgot the first time!
posted by tavegyl at 12:47 AM on December 11, 2019 [5 favorites]
Actual Maroons have a genuinely fascinating, and inspiring, history.
This is absolutely true, and I also link the Sons of Kemet track My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons.
However I'm pretty sure that's not the [offensive and racist] joke Bugs Bunny is making - it's an "acCENT on the wrong syLABble" joke, common at the time and to dads the world over. He's saying "this person is so stupid that they think you pronounce this word 'maroon'". I mean, it's an ableist joke so it is still terrible.
As far as I can tell from reading American history (and from being educated at a series of well-regarded schools in the eighties and nineties) the Maroons were not well known, especially under that name, to average Americans in the mid- and late-twentieth century, especially white Americans. Obviously people who were especially well-read and/or studied Black history would know about them, but I have never gotten the impression that a mass audience would recognize the term such that it would be a casual insult.
(Also, a lot of people don't realize that 'moron' is an ableist medical slur; "Christ what an asshole" is a million times better.)
posted by Frowner at 5:55 AM on December 11, 2019 [12 favorites]
This is absolutely true, and I also link the Sons of Kemet track My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons.
However I'm pretty sure that's not the [offensive and racist] joke Bugs Bunny is making - it's an "acCENT on the wrong syLABble" joke, common at the time and to dads the world over. He's saying "this person is so stupid that they think you pronounce this word 'maroon'". I mean, it's an ableist joke so it is still terrible.
As far as I can tell from reading American history (and from being educated at a series of well-regarded schools in the eighties and nineties) the Maroons were not well known, especially under that name, to average Americans in the mid- and late-twentieth century, especially white Americans. Obviously people who were especially well-read and/or studied Black history would know about them, but I have never gotten the impression that a mass audience would recognize the term such that it would be a casual insult.
(Also, a lot of people don't realize that 'moron' is an ableist medical slur; "Christ what an asshole" is a million times better.)
posted by Frowner at 5:55 AM on December 11, 2019 [12 favorites]
I definitely first ran into it on BoingBoing, back when it was still tolerable.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:19 AM on December 11, 2019
posted by aspersioncast at 6:19 AM on December 11, 2019
Also, the proper format is, "And I, for one, welcome our new ____ overlords."
Which is, just as a historical note, a Simpsons joke.
posted by praemunire at 9:04 AM on December 11, 2019 [13 favorites]
Which is, just as a historical note, a Simpsons joke.
posted by praemunire at 9:04 AM on December 11, 2019 [13 favorites]
All your Bass are belong to us, no treble, amirite?
posted by theora55 at 9:15 AM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 9:15 AM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]
PA's lieutenant governor made a Simpsons reference the other day, and I was staggered to realize the episode in question was over 25 years old.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:35 AM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:35 AM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
Farewell and thank you for all the fishes.
So long…
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:28 AM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
So long…
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:28 AM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
A stitch in time saves no man.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
There's many a slip twixt cup and silver lining?
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:04 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:04 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
There's plenty more fishes beggars would ride!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:06 PM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:06 PM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]
It was an era when cartoon characters were generally insensitive, ignorant and "politically incorrect" (I HATE that term, especially its association with Bill Maher), and it was rather telling that Bugs showed his stupidity while calling an opponent stupid. It's appeared in multiple Bugsy Toons, but the first time it was paired up: "What a maroon! What an ignoranimus!" He also mispronounced imbecile to sound like embezzle.
Even though doing so is kind of a linguistic minefield, I like a lot of the older TV catchphrases, including "Danger, Will Robinson!", "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", "Say good night, Dick", "I know no-thing!" (the 1960s equivalent of "Are WE the baddies?"), and several others that were not said originally in their 'most repeated' form, from "Beam me up, Scotty", to "Lucy, you got a lot of 'splainin' to do". Which is why MST3K's Crow tried to make "You know you want me, baby!" happen.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:59 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
Even though doing so is kind of a linguistic minefield, I like a lot of the older TV catchphrases, including "Danger, Will Robinson!", "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", "Say good night, Dick", "I know no-thing!" (the 1960s equivalent of "Are WE the baddies?"), and several others that were not said originally in their 'most repeated' form, from "Beam me up, Scotty", to "Lucy, you got a lot of 'splainin' to do". Which is why MST3K's Crow tried to make "You know you want me, baby!" happen.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:59 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
this person is so stupid that they think you pronounce this word 'maroon'".
ignoranimus's!
-Bugs Bunny.
posted by clavdivs at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
ignoranimus's!
-Bugs Bunny.
posted by clavdivs at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
This isn't rocket surgery.
posted by nubs at 7:57 AM on December 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by nubs at 7:57 AM on December 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Get a brain, maroons!
posted by Copronymus at 10:06 AM on December 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Copronymus at 10:06 AM on December 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a rocket scientist!
posted by Lynsey at 1:24 PM on December 12, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Lynsey at 1:24 PM on December 12, 2019 [5 favorites]
Does the pope shit in the woods?
(And, if so, does he have a stash of porn out there, too?)
posted by kaibutsu at 4:03 PM on December 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
(And, if so, does he have a stash of porn out there, too?)
posted by kaibutsu at 4:03 PM on December 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
From this maybe?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5aMAoEbFl0
posted by hypnogogue at 9:09 AM on December 13, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5aMAoEbFl0
posted by hypnogogue at 9:09 AM on December 13, 2019
There's plenty more fishes beggars would ride!
I've always declared, If wishes were fishes then beggars would ride. and usually have to follow it up with a muttered, makes about as much sense as wishing...
Then again, life is a bowl of cherry pits.
On a serious (?) note, big thanks to tavegyl and Frowner for the additional context for What a maroon! I say that all the time mimicking Bugs Bunny, and vaguely suspected it could be (or interpreted as) something more than a mispronunciation of moron. Acknowledging that I've always felt uncomfortable with the term 'moron' as well, I'm hereby promising to switch over to the perfectly applicable and egalitarian Christ, what an asshole! from now on.
posted by carsonb at 2:51 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've always declared, If wishes were fishes then beggars would ride. and usually have to follow it up with a muttered, makes about as much sense as wishing...
Then again, life is a bowl of cherry pits.
On a serious (?) note, big thanks to tavegyl and Frowner for the additional context for What a maroon! I say that all the time mimicking Bugs Bunny, and vaguely suspected it could be (or interpreted as) something more than a mispronunciation of moron. Acknowledging that I've always felt uncomfortable with the term 'moron' as well, I'm hereby promising to switch over to the perfectly applicable and egalitarian Christ, what an asshole! from now on.
posted by carsonb at 2:51 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
Give a man a fish & feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, then buy up all the riverfront property & rent-seek for a lifetime.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:57 PM on December 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Teach a man to fish, then buy up all the riverfront property & rent-seek for a lifetime.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:57 PM on December 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
GROW A BRAIN MORANS
posted by klangklangston at 6:38 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 6:38 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
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This MeFi post from 2006 gets at the original popularization of the phrase as a meme, from the idea that it was a workable caption for literally every New Yorker cartoon.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:33 PM on December 10, 2019 [19 favorites]