Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 08:36:48 -0500

From: Jesse T Sheidlower jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PANIX.COM

Subject: Re: recently attested items





2) on mock- or faux-Spanish (no problemo, etc.): another formation I've

come across recently is the superlative-forming -mondo, e.g. the use of

both "correctamundo" and "perfectamundo" in a currently-airing radio

commercial for RCA. I tried tracking them down via Nexis, and traced the

former back to 1989, where the first (of 19) citations included a reference to

the popularizing of the term by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Evidently,

though, "correctamundo" has outlived Raffy, Leo, Mike and Don.

"Perfectamundo", on the other hand, had just two cites, the earlier in 1992.

Did this suffix derive from a perverse blend of -mente and mundo? Best not to

know, perhaps.



Pushing this back a bit, I think this was a regular usage of the Fonz,

on Happy Days. Can't find anything in writing right now, though.



Jesse Sheidlower

jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com