Li'l Abner - Dialogue and Catchphrases

Dialogue and Catchphrases

Al Capp, a native northeasterner, wrote all the final dialogue in Li'l Abner using his approximation of a mock-southern dialect, (including phonetic sounds, nonstop "creative" spelling and deliberate malapropisms). He constantly interspersed boldface type, and included prompt words in parentheses (chuckle!, sob!, gasp!, shudder!, smack!, drool!, cackle!, snort!, gulp!, blush!, ugh!, etc.) as asides — to bolster the effect of the printed speech balloons. Almost every line was followed by two exclamation marks for added emphasis.

Outside Dogpatch, characters used a variety of stock Vaudevillian dialects. Mobsters and criminal-types invariably spoke slangy Brooklynese, and residents of Lower Slobbovia spoke pidgin-Russian, with a smattering of Yinglish. Comic dialects were also devised for offbeat British characters — like H'Inspector Blugstone of Scotland Yard (who had a Cockney accent) and Sir Cecil Cesspool, (whose speech was a clipped, uppercrust King's English). Various Asian, Latin, Native American and European characters spoke in a wide range of specific, broadly caricatured dialects as well. Capp has credited his inspiration for vividly stylized language to early literary influences like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Damon Runyon, as well as Old-time radio and the Burlesque stage.

The following is a partial list of characteristic expressions that reappeared often in Li'l Abner:

• "Natcherly!"
• "Amoozin' but confoozin'!"
• "Yo' big, sloppy beast!!" (also, "Yo' mizzable skonk!!")
• "Ef Ah had mah druthers, Ah'd druther..."
• "As any fool kin plainly see!" (Response: "Ah sees!")
• "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for everybody!" (Variant from the movie: "...good for the USA!")
• "Thar's no Jack S. like our Jack S!"
• "Oh, happy day!"
• "Th' ideel o' ev'ry one hunnerd percent, red-blooded American boy!"
• "Ah'll bash yore haid in!!"
• "Wal, fry mah hide!" (also, "Wal, cuss mah bones!")
• "Ah has spoken!"
• "Good is better than evil becuz it's nicer!"
• "It hain't hoomin, thass whut it hain't!"