Re: CHAT: Murgatroyd (was somehow Re: Lenition)

Heavens to Murgatroyd!! Marcus Smith wrote:

(Me:)

>>> If I'm not mistaken, that's Sylvester Pussycat, whose speech is
decidedly
>>> idiosyncratic and unrepresentative of anything American.
>Sylvester the pussycat said "Suffering succatash".
That he did.....

>I believe the character was Snagglepuss (or however that is supposed to be
>spelled) from the Hannah-Barbara cartoons. Same shows as Yogi Bear and
>Huckleberry Hound.
>
After I sent my post, nagging doubts arose that memory might have been
playing another trick, and perhaps 2 or more characters had been conflated.

My knowledge of the phrase derives (I'm pretty sure) from movie-going as a
child in the 40s/50s, and I don't think Hanna-Barbera were around in those
days, at least not producing cartoons for theater showing-- and I was too
old and Far Too Sophisticated ;-) to watch their TV shows when they came
along......(Ahem) I think I watched H.Hound for a while; did Snagglepuss
appear there? The name rings a bell.

So _someone_ back in the old days used the phrase-- even the occasional
adult; who must have picked it up from the kids.  Sorry, Ray, we're back to
Square One...

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