Saturday, March 17, 2018

"I'll Tell The World"




Thelma Todd uses the expression "I'll tell the world!" in ON THE LOOSE. This was a popular expression in that period which can be found in a number of places, including a Charlie Chan story. I more or less grasped the meaning, which I suppose is self-evident, but decided to look up a definition anyway. Here is one I found at http://www.dictionary.com/browse/i-ll-tell-the-world:

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

You are absolutely right; it is entirely correct : I'll tell the cockeyed world he's a crook (1900s+ esp WWI armed forces ).

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

A

No comments:

Post a Comment