Kablammo!

So, after an enjoyable week or so in Danmark, I find myself right back where I was before I left. Hopefully I’ll have something more substantive soon, but for the moment here is a “teaser”.

In other news, it appears that the word “not” has been used as a postpositive interjection (think Wayne’s World, or Borat) for over eighty years. Check out the following passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Bernice Bobs Her Hair“, first published in 1920:

“Do you want me to go home?”

“Well,” said Marjorie, considering, “I suppose if you’re not having a good time you’d better go. No use being miserable.”

“Don’t you think common kindness——”

“Oh, please don’t quote ‘Little Women’!” cried Marjorie impatiently. “That’s out of style.”

“You think so?”

“Heavens, yes! What modern girl could live like those inane females?”

“They were the models for our mothers.”

Marjorie laughed.

“Yes, they were—not! Besides, our mothers were all very well in their way, but they know very little about their daughters’ problems.”

(Emphasis added.)

Edit: A little quick searching tells me that “not!” is even older than that (as discussed here and here, for example), but so be it.