Friday, April 06, 2012

grrouchie

G is for grrouchie and that's good enough for me.
Actually, it's not good enough for me as today I'm going to take you on a stroll down memory lane.

By the time I hit college my computer usage skills were regulated to an old antiquated (even for the time) POS with no hard drive and everything had to be done on floppies - the 5.25 kind.
When I first started college, in order to crank out my papers I had a Brother type writer that took floppies so that I could save the data.  it had a small green/black screen where I could type all my crap into and see it on the screen and when I was ready I could hit Print and that thing would go for like 3 days to print 10 pages.  However, it worked for as long as I used it.

Having nothing to do with anything but a great story that I like to share.
One evening I was sitting down and churning out a paper and talking to my future roomie MTT who was in the room beside me (the walls were thin and you could carry on a conversation through the lighting fixtures) and my current roomie was doing some Karaoke with two friends he had over.   So here I am trying to be creative and come up with some good things to write while I had Tupac, Dre and Eazy E Juniors surrounding me and spitting out rhymes.

A few minutes into their fun one of the guys is rambling about something which I will never remember when he comes up with the phrase "And my main nigga serge is on the Type-Wryter."
I don't believe I was the chorus, but I was a key component that evening.

The next day I walk into my accounting class and MTT is already sitting there waiting.  I approach my seat and he greets me with "Wazzup (remember those commercials) my main nigga serge - on the type - wryyyyter"
Ahh yes.  The only white nigga on campus, at least for the next months worth of ribbings.
However, it was all good because eventually the unbelievably hot Puerto Rican babe that moved into the room with me made life so much more pleasant and interesting.
God I miss Milli - used to sneak her into our showers so she could clean up and then she'd towel off and get dressed and sit in the room in nothing but a wife beater.
dirty thoughts
dirty thoughts
dirty thoughts with mike rowe

Where was I?
Oh - yeah, I had a story to tell and Milli went and ruined it all.

So, eventually i started hitting up the computer lab with MTT and we discovered Mirc - internet chatting.  I'd avoided AOL (except when getting hacked accounts and fucking with people's love lives - but that's another day I guess).  So we found a chat room/channel/whatever they were called - where we had some friends and continued to talk to them for years actually.  (I've only met one person from those days and that was a fun evening).

At first I was Beavis (nickname in high school)but after a while I wanted to go with something that was more akin to my personality and I decided upon Groucho Marx.

You see, I love Groucho and have been big into the Marx Brothers since 9th grade or so.  I would look at the TV guide every week (remember when it was a print publication?) and check out all the classic channels for any Marx Brothers movies being played and I would plan my days around them.
I started checking out books from the Library about Groucho and his brothers.
When college came I started ordering some books as well and eventually ended up with a Groucho tat!
Rob can attest to the fact that it's well done and is the ONLY person I have ever run into who knew where the picture came from when I explained it.  All Hail Rob!!!

Groucho being a popular icon to many people I would sometimes run into situations where that name was already registered.  So, this is when I decided to be unique and add the 2nd "R" into my handle.

After probably 6 or 7 months and developing real friendships with some people online one person who I still kinda sorta keep in contact with (and I have been thinking about her for a few months now - gotta send her an email again) started calling me grouchie every time we'd talk.
Hey Grrrrroouchie
Oh look its grouchie
whatever, but always ie instead of o
After awhile I decided to adopt the moniker instead of using grroucho because I kind of got tired of explaining who Groucho was to people of my generation (and getting the "the Stooges are better" line of bullshit that only stupid people believe).

And thus, grrouchie (never capitalized) was born.

Kinda boring, I know - but whatever.  Every handle has a history and mine was formed partially because of my love of Groucho Marx and partially because a hot Asian chick called me grrouchie instead.


Now, Groucho Quotes.

Women should be obscene and not heard.
Outside a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read.
I could dance with you until the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather dance with the cows until you come home.
I never forget a face, in your case I'd be glad to make an exception.
A man's only as old as the woman he's feeling.

My favorite was on an episode of You Bet Your Life where he was interviewing a a guy who had a lot of kids (I don't know the number so I'll make that up).
Groucho: It says here that you have a lot of children.
Guy: yes, 8 to be exact.
Groucho: Wow, that's an awful lot of children. What made you decide to have that many
Guy: Well Groucho, I really love my wife.
Groucho: Well, I really love my cigar but I take it out every now and then.

Funniest man to ever exist

15 comments:

  1. Love the Groucho comments. I'm old enough to remember him on TV. He could be very funny without saying anything, just the look on his face.

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    1. Yeah, I've only ever gotten to watch re-runs and, as i have just discovered, lots of stuff now on Youtube which I'll have to scour over.

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  2. Great post, nice to hear the origin of the "grrouchie" name. You know, you coulda used a Groucho character name too. I did that a lot. I was once kicked off a forum as "Capt. Spaulding." And I've used Dr. Hackenbush too. Also, Delaney, the running gag in the greatest book ever written, "Groucho & Me" by G. Marx.

    Nice Groucho quotes but there are so many to choose from. I hate to say this, but there is some debate among Marx fanatics about the whether the "I love my cigar" story is true or not. There's no recording of it. Some people maintain it never happened and is just a legend. Others insist it happened on a show that where the recording was lost. We'll never know for sure but it is a great story nonetheless, and the fact that we know Groucho COULD have said it is good enough.

    Hmm....I realize that in my last comment on Josie's blog, I should have used this Groucho line...."I'm fighing for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she's ever done."

    But I wonder if anyone these days even knows what fighting for a woman'a honor even means?

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    1. You know, I've probably just read the line and used the line myself so much that in my mind it was defacto a Groucho quote.

      In my mind I actually heard it performed on his show which as I'm finding out now probably isn't true.
      But, I'll always believe he said it as it's easily something that he could have uttered.

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  3. (In response to a letter from a fan)"Thank you for your letter. I'll waste no time reading it."

    I love the old MB comedies. The way they'd skewer Margaret DuMont every single time...they say when it came time for Harpo to do his solo that you could hear a pin drop on the set - everyone just stopped what they were doing to listen. He was quite gifted, he and his brother Chicko both.

    And yes, I think the Stooges were better but that doesn't mean that Groucho and the boys weren't also hysterical.

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    1. The age old question "if you could go back in time to one moment or to meet one person....."

      Mine is always Groucho Marx for the person to meet and talk to .
      If I could go back and do one thing, Watch their Vaudeville performances!

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    2. Yeah, that would be awesome to see them on vaudeville. When they hit the big-time and actually went to broadway with professionally scripted plays, they were famous for never do the same show--or anything close to it--twice.

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  4. I'd forgotten all about Groucho Marx! I loved You Bet Your Life. Now I have to watch a Groucho movie....love those, and I agree, much better than The Stooges.

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    1. I own every Marx Brother movie on DVD (and hopefully eventually on Blu if released).
      I watch everyone at least once a year.

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  5. And I just read elsewhere that you're a Steelers fan - Have a spectacular Easter!

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    1. Yep - HUGE Steelers fan. Just got an autographed pic of Antonio Brown too :)

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  6. I remember some of Groucho's work from when I was young....now I'm gonna have to you tube and catch up ...refresh the old noggin

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  7. I liked the Marx Brothers, but never was an over-the-top fan. Groucho was great as a snarky dirty old man on You Bet Your Life. But ... The Three Stooges will ALWAYS rule in my mind.

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