A.Word.A.Day--Alphonse and Gaston

[Dave Monroe]

A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Love and Marriage go together like a horse and carriage, so the song
goes. They do, often, but not always. On the other hand, characters in
this week's pairs do go together, at least in language. This week's
eponyms (a word coined after a person) feature two people who work
together, well, like a nut and a bolt, or a rack and pinion, or yin
and yang or an axle and a wheel.

Alphonse and Gaston

PRONUNCIATION:
(AL-fons uhn GAS-tuhn)

MEANING:
noun: Two people who treat each other with excessive deference, often
to their detriment.

ETYMOLOGY:
After the title characters in a cartoon strip by cartoonist Frederick
Burr Opper (1857-1937). Alphonse and Gaston are extremely polite to
each other, to the extent that their "After you, Alphonse", "You
first, my dear Gaston!" routine often gets them into trouble, such as
when they can't evade a trolley which mows them down while each
insists on letting the other go first.

USAGE:
"A weeklong bout of Governor and public worker unions playing Alphonse
and Gaston on contract proposals has the public frustrated about an
end to the nonsense. No one really cares who goes first and no one
cares if the offer is on or off the record, written or oral, engraved
on fine linen or scribbled on a Post-it."
Cynthia Oi; All We Really Want Are Some Solutions; Star-Bulletin
(Hawaii); Jul 12, 2009 .

http://wordsmith.org/words/alphonse_and_gaston.htm

Cf. ...

"... the famous V & B Tow Company Theme, based on the Disney cartoon
anthem '"I'm Chip!"--"I'm Dale!"' sung originally by a chipmunk act
that never quite achieved either the charisma or the recognition of
Ross Bagdasarian's trio, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore." (VL, Ch. 9, p.
180)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0312&msg=87511
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0312&msg=87513
http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9#Page_180
http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter9.htm