0
Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

CNN: "swimming with the fishes"

On a CNN report about a possible "latte tax" the announcer concluded with something along the lines of "but for now the tax is, as they say in New York 'swimming with the fishes'."
Maybe she was just making fun of New Yorkers.
kyler
  

Top answer

" Maybe she was just making fun of New Yorkers. kyler[/nq] It's a common misquote. In the Godfather (Movie Pt I and novel) the appearance of a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest (dead fish, it's not an actual button fish) is explained as a message that 'Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes' - ie he's been murdered and disposed of in the ocean.

  • " Maybe she was just making fun of New Yorkers.
  • kyler[/nq] It's a common misquote.
  • In the Godfather (Movie Pt I and novel) the appearance of a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest (dead fish, it's not an actual button fish) is explained as a message that 'Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes' - ie he's been murdered and disposed of in the ocean.
  • 'Sleeping with the fishes' was thus presented as Mafia slang for 'dead'.
  • Somehow, the meme corrupted to 'swimming with the fishes' (the opposite of the original meaning) and it caught on.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0
[nq:1]On a CNN report about a possible "latte tax" the announcer concluded with something along the lines of "but for now the tax is, as they say in New York 'swimming with the fishes'." Maybe she was just making fun of New Yorkers. kyler[/nq]
It's a common misquote. In the Godfather (Movie Pt I and novel) the appearance of a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest (dead fish, it's not an actual bu
0
[nq:1]It's a common misquote.[/nq]
I could care less.
[nq:1]'sleeps with the fishes' and 'sleeping with the fishes' get 7,900 Google hits 'swims with the fishes' and 'swimming with the fishes' get 3,240[/nq]
I did a similar search before posting and the "swimming with the fishes" results I saw were really about people who swam with fishes.

Ah...I looked further and found a goo

Related Questions