When the president said ‘sock it to me’

My apologies for unwittingly being the purveyor of fake news in last week’s column, mistakenly crediting Goldie Hawn with the “sock it to me” catchphrase from the Laugh-In show. It was actually the English actress Judy Carne who was the regular “sock it to me” girl, although Hawn did also come out with the expression on occasions.

My excuse is that I only saw the show a few times and the giggling, effervescent Hawn was the one who slotted herself into what is now my rapidly diminishing memory bank.

One of the most unlikely persons to say “sock it to me” on Laugh-In was US president Richard Nixon in an effort to win over younger voters. But it didn’t really work. It took six takes for him to say it without actually sounding angry. Never mind, he received a handy appearance fee of US$210.

The show picked up the “sock it to me” expression from the chorus of Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit Respect, although there were a couple of other songs which featured similar words.

In the fast-paced show, whenever Carne said “sock it to me” something horrible would happen to her, getting drenched with a bucket of water, hit on the head by some alien object, or even

falling through the floor. When asked by the producers whether she minded the rough treatment she responded: “I’ll do anything for a laugh”.

She eventually left the show, saying it had become “boring”.

Where’s the catch?

Politicians around the world find a catchphrase very useful, primarily because it doesn’t have to mean anything. In fact, the more confusing the better — as long as it shuts up nosy newshounds. Perhaps Thailand’s current premier should work on one, although I would suggest he avoids “sock it to me” as he might find it lacks a certain refinement.

The most famous catchphrase from a Thai premier was “mai mee panha” (no problem), which the gentleman in question trotted out with considerable aplomb more than two decades ago. Whenever there was a crisis he would dismiss it with “no problem” and the problem would seemingly go away. However, one day the men in uniform decided there actually was a problem and it was him. And it was all over.

The catchphrase carried on, however, with “No Problem” T-shirts, stickers and even bars of that name. Foreign visitors were cheerfully greeted by kids in the street with “no problem” rather than the traditional “hey you”. It rapidly developed into “hey you, no problem, five baht”.

Radio days

Growing up in Britain, I was treated to assorted catchphrases which became part of the culture, at first from radio, and then television. Perhaps the earliest catchphrases I heard were from the extraordinary 1950s radio show The Goons. Among the many expressions that became popular were “you rotten swine” and “you silly twisted boy”.

I was brought up on the radio sitcom Hancock’s Half Hour. Tony Hancock was quite brilliant and some of his regular expressions, “have you gone raving mad?” and “stone me!” became part of our everyday language. It was in Hancock’s show that I first became aware of Kenneth Williams who could not resist funny voices, saying things like “stop messing about” which became a catchphrase for many years.

Later, when Williams was let loose on Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne in the early 1960s, he was responsible for a variety of catchphrases, one of the most memorable coming from his Arthur Fallowfield country character who would inform us with a strong rural twang that “The answer lies in the soil”.

Evening all

Police dramas are always a good source of catchphrases. Britain’s first televised police series, Dixon of Dock Green, featured a rather ancient cop played by Jack Warner. At the start of each show PC George Dixon would amble down the police station steps to the tune of Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner, salute and greet the viewers with a comforting “evening all!” which became an instant catchphrase in any reference to the police force.

Dixon didn’t quite have the vocabulary to match Dirty Harry’s “make my day” or “do you feel lucky punk?” but like Clint Eastwood, he always got his man even though he was about 60 and a bit tottery.

Seriously, though…

David Frost’s breakthrough BBC satirical show That Was the Week That Was in 1962-3, spawned numerous catchphrases. It began with Frost’s distinctive, tautological introduction: “Hello, good evening and welcome.” More biting was, after totally demolishing the credibility of a politician, Frost would come out with a mocking “seriously, though, he’s doing a grand job!’.’ These catchphrases took over newspaper headlines for years to come.

The loose moose

Music is also a rich source of catchphrases. One of the more unusual emerged in 1958 with Hoots Mon, by the splendidly-named Lord Rockingham’s XI.

It was a saxophone rock instrumental, broken up by sporadic shouts of “och aye”, “there’s a moose loose aboot this hoose” and “it’s a braw, bricht moonlicht nicht”. These became catchphrases throughout Britain although I’m not sure what the Scots thought of it. You can see it on YouTube.

The catchphrases, of course, will keep on coming and no doubt Boris Johnson will be good for a few quirky efforts.

Apologies for the nostalgia, but it’s more fun than writing about the current news.