No Way, Bouillabaisse.
Let French cuisine take it for a while.
Yesterday in the am/pm parking lot while I was putting air in my tires, a boy in his early teens asked if I would buy him a cigar. His hair was black and spiky and his eyebrows arched with hope.
“No way, Jose,” I said.
“I thought I might as well try,” he said. As he and his friends walked away, cigarless, I realized that one of these boys, in this Mexican-American neighborhood, could potentially be named Jose. I drove off to teach a class in which one of my students does have that name.
When I Googled “No way, Jose,” I was led to the www.phrases.org.uk website which has this to say about the phrase:
In Chapman and Kipfer’s Dictionary of American Slang ‘no way’ is listed as a 1960s phrase and ‘no way Jose’ as originating in Village Voice. Unfortunately, they don’t present any other details so I can’t check that assertion. The first verified citation I’ve found is from The Washington Post, December 1979:
”I’ve got nothing against robots. But no way, Jose, is this guy going to win.”
Why Jose? There’s no reason to think that Jose was an actual person. The name was probably chosen for the rhyme with ‘no way’, which predates the longer phrase.
As a sometimes poet, I have to admit the appeal of a saying seemingly created around a rhyme. I just worry that Jose is sick of being told no. Is there someone else who can take a turn?
Is it time we tell technology no? Blu-ray.
Shopping: Ebay.
Wildlife: Blue Jay.
Tags: bark, language, no way jose
Redneck version: Can’t do Bobbie-Sue! :-)
Asa, I love it. I was hoping people would create more options!
Funny, Shira.
Sam, I wrote the Blue Jay one for you.
And bluejays are such mean bastards.
Cooking:
No way, Bobby Flay.
Martial Arts:
Don’t ask me, Bruce Lee.
Oh, you guys are too cool for Buella.