Silly rabbits. The true, undisputed master of this type of expression was Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Just take a look at the Excited Exclamations Of Namor:
So, let's hope that if we ever get a Namor movie, the scriptwriters remember this charming aspect of Namor's personality.Panels taken from, in no particular order, Sub-Mariner Comics #35, 38, & 40 (1954-1955), as reprinted in Marvel Super-Heroes #13, 16, 17 & 20 (1968-1969)
They got away with "Neptune's noodle!"?
ReplyDelete"Noodle" is 1950s speak for head or noggin, Mensh.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to adopt "Neptune's noodle" into my every day conversations.
ReplyDeleteI knew that, but I wondered about how it must have sounded to readers of the 1968/69 reprint.
ReplyDeleteLanguage, especially slang, changes. Consider for instance how people these days snigger at the phrase "a pirate's booty" or that in the 1950s and even the early 1960s the expression "to make love to" was not an unequivocal synoym for "to have sex with" and still was used more in the older senses of "to court, pay amorous attentions to" or "to embrace or kiss". (I rather suspect that by 1968 the Doris Day song "Move Over, Darling" (which contains the line "make love to me") sounded a bit more risqué than it had when it was relased in 1963).
I'd love to see a modern story where Steve Rogers or Bucky spout some of Namor's WWII-era alliterations in his presence. Just as how nobody can razz us quite like our long-time friends or family members, it would be great if the lame alliterations were used to tease the (now) too-badass-for-the-room Sub-Mariner.
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