A phalanx of whammies.
It was weird. It took us a while to figure out what was going on, with the contestant apparently bartering a briefcase for other briefcases despite not knowing what any of them contained. She was stupid, and ended up gambling away a bunch of money. Her husband was there via satellite link from Baghdad, and you could tell he was pissed she didn't "deal" when she was up to $125,000. Way to disappoint your handsome Army guy husband, lady. Also, there was this bizarre Greek chorus of her harpy friends shouting at her. "DEEEEEEEALLLLLL!" or "NOOOO DEEEEEALLL!" they would randomly shout. N.O., caught up in the moment, shouted "Big money! No whammy!"
I laughed. Then I paused. "What is that from? That whammy thing? I remember it from when I was a kid, but... it's not Wheel of Fortune, is it?"
Despite being the one who had said it, N.O. was equally perplexed. "No, not Wheel of Fortune. I don't know where that came from."
The Price is Right, maybe? That's the only other game show I remember watching when I was a kid. But that didn't sound right, either.
A whammy conducts his diabolical business.
I managed to quell my curiosity long enough to watch 24, when another weird word came up, all whammy-like, to spoil my enjoyment. Mr. Pointyfaced McBadguy snarled, "There's a whole phalanx of CTU agents right outside the door!" And I thought, "Is that how you say that?"
It was. I looked it up. And I was terribly disappointed. Because that awesome, beautiful, tough, magnificent-looking word sounds absolutely stupid when you say it out loud.
Just look at it: phalanx. Now say it. What a letdown.
Remembering this terribly uninteresting sequence of events (sorry!) a few moments ago, I googled "whammy." I couldn't believe it. Apparently, it's from a game show called Press Your Luck. Which is just bizarre to me, because I so clearly remember the little whammy guy and the stupid mantra, but I had no other memory of the show. If you had asked me yesterday, I would have sworn I had never even heard of it. The years sounded about right, though (1983 - 1986), so I guess I did watch that show as a kid.
Probably with my Grandma. I'll bet she watches Deal or No Deal, too, God love her.
posted by AmberO at Sleeping is for Sissies at 3:17 PM
4 comment(s)
from:
Queen, III,
Moderator,
Autumn's Mom,
AmberO at Sleeping is for Sissies,
4 Comments:
I KNOW I watched that gameshow...but somehow, it also seems to have slipped from my memory. How strange! I do, however, still remember Pyramid, however. And that one with the words that you try and guess.
Press Your Luck is still on the Game Show Network. There's even a modern version by a different name I believe. But the 1980s whammy rules.
I've watched that show too. I used to watch game shows with my granny too. I'm not gonna get sucked into that Deal or No Deal show though. I have enough shows that make me act like an idiot (Idol) :) Do you watch SNL? They did a funny spoof of Deal/No Deal when Antonio B was the host.
I can't watch SNL anymore. Too depressing to see how far it's fallen. But I do have a weird thing about Antonio Banderas. I always hated him until he started doing those bee commercials. They make me just unbelievably happy. Though I don't know which product they're advertising...
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