Obviously a Happy Days reference; but beyond that…?
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Since when has Lio *ever* had a beyond?
Is Happy Days not a geezer reference? And this guy kind of looks like Potsie.
“Is Happy Days not a geezer reference?”
Potsie goes back even farther than you think. The genesis for Happy Days was an episode of, if I recall correctly, “Love, American Style”. There is no Arthur Fonzarelli in that story, he was added later.
With that spiked hairdo, he looks even more like Alfalfa.
Contrary to expectations of celestial wisdom, the truth is that the stars are old, dopey and immature. Like the seekers who climb a mountain to talk to the wise man, only to find him watching sitcoms or otherwise wallowing in triviality.
Definite geezer reference. Especially since the reference isn’t Fonzie, but a little-remembered catch phrase.
I’m such a geezer I remember the episode of “Love American Style.” Richie’s family got a television set, and was apparently the first in the neighborhood, and some girl dated him just because she wanted to see television.
“Sit on it” is “little-remembered”?
Heck, I remember Nick at Nite doing a whole jingle and ad with clips of characters saying the phrase.
Happens I was in Milwaukee last weekend (the real one, not the Hollywood set) and I came upon the famous “Fonzie” thumbs up “Ayyyyyy” statue on the Riverwalk. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s bronze but they colored his blue jeans, black leather jacket, etc. I was trying to remember how passersby traditionally touched the statue for luck. Thumbs and head were a bit shiny, but not bad. Then I looked down at the slight bulge in the front of his blue jeans. That is one fine shine you have on that gold-toothed fly, Mr. Fonsarelli!
I was living two cities south of Milwaukee when that statue was put up . . . NObody liked it at the time! Now, it seems they like certain parts, at least.
So let me see if I have this right, Powers.
You found a copy of a video that was aired 21 years ago on a cable channel promoting a show that was about 25 years old at that time. Yep, that sounds pretty current.
I’m wond’rin’ . . . is it meant to be as vulgar as it sounds, or is my mind just in the gutter?
It was seventies television so (1) yes, it was no doubt meant to be as vulgar as it sounds, but (2) if called upon it, the writers had left it vague enough for plausible deniability.
(I can recall viewing only two episodes of HAPPY DAYS in my life, and those only because someone I knew had a small part on them.
That being the case (the vulgarity), I can’t believe the people who say it and to whom they are saying it. The kids? Yeah, I believe it. The adults? No way.
But then, in my parents’ house, the words ‘shut up’ were considered vulgar and would garner severe punishment if ever spoken. To this day, I can’t say them, nor do I like hearing them. The equivalence of an ‘f-bomb’.
“Sit on it” is a perfect example of sanitized sitcom swearing — they can’t do actual vulgarity, but actual vulgarity is actually a part of life, so they make up a substitute, to greater or lesser success — because of Happy Days‘ great popularity, “sit on it” was one of the more successful ones, but it’s still a “purse you lips and blow” kind of empty innuendo. It was so successful, actually, that they had winking uses of it in the show later on by people who wouldn’t have used it (or rather, what it stood in for) were it not for the winking reference — it doesn’t actually mean anything, so by having this person say it who would never say the original vulgarity it was meant to replace, we are acknowledging the popularity of the phrase and our show, wink, wink, hello audience beyond the fourth wall… “Up your nose with a rubber hose” was a contemporaneous one from Welcome Back Kotter. Similar was “frak” from Battlestar Galactica, which is kind of like “fug” in Mailer. So when The Simpsons dispensed with stupid innuendo and had Bart actually say “suck” (oh no, moderation, here I come…) and “hell” and “bitch”, it was quite the scandal…
A common real-world expression (current in the 70s when Happy Days aired) was “sit on it and spin” (or “sit on this and spin”, accompanied by a thumb or middle finger), so I think the derivation is clear. But the “on your butt” explanation is just plausible enough that I suspect the censors were placated.
SingaporeBill: Is it your contention, then, that the phrase could be well-remembered after 25 years and nearly forgotten after an additional 21?
“You found a copy of a video that was aired 21 years ago on a cable channel promoting a show that was about 25 years old at that time. Yep, that sounds pretty current.”
Thanks to DVD, someone’s probably watching right now. Not me, I’ve got a new box-set of Community’s entire run. There’s not much on that’s worthwhile in the summertime, but Sundance channel is free this month and they run about 30 episodes of “Law & Order”, and it’s been long enough that I only remember how about half of them turn out. In contrast, they also run a lot of M*A*S*H episodes on the weekend, and that’s an older show, and I still remember them too well to watch. (YMMV).
For me, Happy Days is too much a product of the 70’s.
@ Powers – Oddly enough, in the area in which I grew up, the phrase ended “…and rotate”, but the implication was the same.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Since when has Lio *ever* had a beyond?
Is Happy Days not a geezer reference? And this guy kind of looks like Potsie.
“Is Happy Days not a geezer reference?”
Potsie goes back even farther than you think. The genesis for Happy Days was an episode of, if I recall correctly, “Love, American Style”. There is no Arthur Fonzarelli in that story, he was added later.
With that spiked hairdo, he looks even more like Alfalfa.
Contrary to expectations of celestial wisdom, the truth is that the stars are old, dopey and immature. Like the seekers who climb a mountain to talk to the wise man, only to find him watching sitcoms or otherwise wallowing in triviality.
Definite geezer reference. Especially since the reference isn’t Fonzie, but a little-remembered catch phrase.
I’m such a geezer I remember the episode of “Love American Style.” Richie’s family got a television set, and was apparently the first in the neighborhood, and some girl dated him just because she wanted to see television.
“Sit on it” is “little-remembered”?
Heck, I remember Nick at Nite doing a whole jingle and ad with clips of characters saying the phrase.
(Hey look, I found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9anJWctHv4A)
Happens I was in Milwaukee last weekend (the real one, not the Hollywood set) and I came upon the famous “Fonzie” thumbs up “Ayyyyyy” statue on the Riverwalk. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s bronze but they colored his blue jeans, black leather jacket, etc. I was trying to remember how passersby traditionally touched the statue for luck. Thumbs and head were a bit shiny, but not bad. Then I looked down at the slight bulge in the front of his blue jeans. That is one fine shine you have on that gold-toothed fly, Mr. Fonsarelli!
I was living two cities south of Milwaukee when that statue was put up . . . NObody liked it at the time! Now, it seems they like certain parts, at least.
So let me see if I have this right, Powers.
You found a copy of a video that was aired 21 years ago on a cable channel promoting a show that was about 25 years old at that time. Yep, that sounds pretty current.
I’m wond’rin’ . . . is it meant to be as vulgar as it sounds, or is my mind just in the gutter?
It was seventies television so (1) yes, it was no doubt meant to be as vulgar as it sounds, but (2) if called upon it, the writers had left it vague enough for plausible deniability.
(I can recall viewing only two episodes of HAPPY DAYS in my life, and those only because someone I knew had a small part on them.
That being the case (the vulgarity), I can’t believe the people who say it and to whom they are saying it. The kids? Yeah, I believe it. The adults? No way.
But then, in my parents’ house, the words ‘shut up’ were considered vulgar and would garner severe punishment if ever spoken. To this day, I can’t say them, nor do I like hearing them. The equivalence of an ‘f-bomb’.
“Sit on it” is a perfect example of sanitized sitcom swearing — they can’t do actual vulgarity, but actual vulgarity is actually a part of life, so they make up a substitute, to greater or lesser success — because of Happy Days‘ great popularity, “sit on it” was one of the more successful ones, but it’s still a “purse you lips and blow” kind of empty innuendo. It was so successful, actually, that they had winking uses of it in the show later on by people who wouldn’t have used it (or rather, what it stood in for) were it not for the winking reference — it doesn’t actually mean anything, so by having this person say it who would never say the original vulgarity it was meant to replace, we are acknowledging the popularity of the phrase and our show, wink, wink, hello audience beyond the fourth wall… “Up your nose with a rubber hose” was a contemporaneous one from Welcome Back Kotter. Similar was “frak” from Battlestar Galactica, which is kind of like “fug” in Mailer. So when The Simpsons dispensed with stupid innuendo and had Bart actually say “suck” (oh no, moderation, here I come…) and “hell” and “bitch”, it was quite the scandal…
A common real-world expression (current in the 70s when Happy Days aired) was “sit on it and spin” (or “sit on this and spin”, accompanied by a thumb or middle finger), so I think the derivation is clear. But the “on your butt” explanation is just plausible enough that I suspect the censors were placated.
SingaporeBill: Is it your contention, then, that the phrase could be well-remembered after 25 years and nearly forgotten after an additional 21?
“You found a copy of a video that was aired 21 years ago on a cable channel promoting a show that was about 25 years old at that time. Yep, that sounds pretty current.”
Thanks to DVD, someone’s probably watching right now. Not me, I’ve got a new box-set of Community’s entire run. There’s not much on that’s worthwhile in the summertime, but Sundance channel is free this month and they run about 30 episodes of “Law & Order”, and it’s been long enough that I only remember how about half of them turn out. In contrast, they also run a lot of M*A*S*H episodes on the weekend, and that’s an older show, and I still remember them too well to watch. (YMMV).
For me, Happy Days is too much a product of the 70’s.
@ Powers – Oddly enough, in the area in which I grew up, the phrase ended “…and rotate”, but the implication was the same.
See also “kiss my grits” and “eat my shorts.”