What happened after you were gagged with that spoon?

December 6, 2005 8:28 AM

What is the origin of the "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth" phrase?

Prior to its now overplayed web usage, it was featured in Dodgeball and Austin Powers: Goldmember. I've been told, but haven't verified, that it goes back at least as far as 1997's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Can anyone cite an earlier source?

I guess the two critical additions that make it more unique than a simple "[I'm so grossed out that] I just threw up" are the "a little bit" specificity and locational "in my mouth."

posted by tegoo to human relations (27 comments total)

I thought it was Dodgeball. Don't remember a similar line from either of the other movies you mention, both of which I have seen, though not recently
posted by poppo at 8:30 AM on December 6, 2005

I seem to remember Mike Meyers saying this on SNL a few times. I think it's one of his bits.
posted by DragonBoy at 8:41 AM on December 6, 2005

Wouldn't know, since hinky sources like those cited so far are to be avoided; but be advised that in my circle growing up we refered to the phenomenon of undesired, unexpected bile as
barficide.
posted by Rash at 9:16 AM on December 6, 2005

I've been saying that since probably the early 80s. Just something I picked up in grade school, I guess.
posted by tristeza at 9:20 AM on December 6, 2005

Tim Allen referred to it back in an early 90's stand-up routine as a Verp. Not quite vomit, not quite burp. It was the one where he told stories that had the line, "So I...rewired it..."

He recommended gargling with mineral spirits.
posted by TeamBilly at 9:23 AM on December 6, 2005

I'm pretty sure I first heard it from Margaret Smith. Then again she has another bit that goes, "I was so excited about ______, I peed a little."
posted by whatnot at 9:25 AM on December 6, 2005

Tim Allen's stand-up was the first time I heard it also.
posted by odinsdream at 9:25 AM on December 6, 2005

I'm not aware of the Mike Myers stuff, but surely everyone has experienced a verp before, even if they never called it that? A friend of mine, probably a decade ago, would phone or text a friend of hers every time she verped. The message was always simply "Sick in my mouth." But then, she's a class act.
posted by ajp at 9:28 AM on December 6, 2005

My brother, appx early 1980s, remarked one day to my parents that he had "spit up a taste" whereby he has yet to live down familiar reference.

I don't think there is really definable origin other than having done so oneself and attempting to describe it, quite simply. It's like asking who started the whole concept of jumping, no?
posted by vanoakenfold at 9:38 AM on December 6, 2005

George Carlin did a bit about a "semi-puke related belching incident" in his act in the mid 80s.
posted by Otis at 9:43 AM on December 6, 2005

He's not asking who was the first to discuss the phenomenon of the vomit burp, but rather where this specific, now-popular quote originated. I don't know the answer, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:13 AM on December 6, 2005

I don't think there is really definable origin other than having done so oneself and attempting to describe it, quite simply.

I don't agree--the question is not about the process of expelling a small amount of one's stomach contents into one's mouth; it's about the specific phrase "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth." Particularly when used in a figurative sense to refer to having heard something unpleasant. The question is not about other ways to refer to the actual act, such as "verp" or "semi-puke related belching incident," especially if those are only used to describe the literal act. I concur with tegoo that I have only heard the specific phrase "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth" within the past year or so.

It's like asking who started the whole concept of jumping, no?

No, it's more like asking where "When I say 'jump,' you say 'how high?'" came from. Neither "people have been jumping as long as there have been people" nor "jumping is also called leaping" is an answer to that question.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:14 AM on December 6, 2005

I've been saying it for damn near two decades, now. Mainly because that is what happens sometimes.
posted by zerolives at 10:50 AM on December 6, 2005

I didn't find anything in the script for Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.

I also first noticed this phrase in Dodgeball, and started hearing it a lot in public shortly thereafter.
posted by hartsell at 11:01 AM on December 6, 2005

It's used in the first season of Scrubs - along with "I peed a little" and "I poo'd a little"
posted by slightlybewildered at 11:18 AM on December 6, 2005

I will point out, though, that the phrase was in the trailer for Dodgeball, so I was aware of its use in that context despite not having seen the movie. That also seems to be approximately the time that I started hearing it more often.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:25 AM on December 6, 2005

The phrase was also used in episode 8 (I believe) of Wonderfalls, which would be after Goldmember, but just before Dodgeball.
posted by llamateur at 12:19 PM on December 6, 2005

I believe the quote in Romy and Michelle was something along the lines of "I cut my foot earlier and now my shoe is filling up with blood," not the "I threw up in my mouth" one.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:21 PM on December 6, 2005

I first saw it with Boston Sports Guy when he was on CitySearch back in the late 90s. He'd use it when discussing bad sports trades.
posted by yerfatma at 12:37 PM on December 6, 2005

I first heard it on That 70's show. If Fez is saying it and the show is authentically 70's, then maybe it's been around for 30+ years...?
posted by orangemiles at 1:16 PM on December 6, 2005

It's in Zoolander. The chick says it. Negative on Romy and Michele.

That's the first time I heard that as a verbal expression of disgust. Don't know about SNL, wouldn't be surprised.
posted by hermitosis at 2:19 PM on December 6, 2005

According to iMdB, if it's just "threw up in my mouth" the earliest entry is:

"Saturday Night Live" (1975)
Z105 DJ: [blows raspberry] Oh my God. That's disgusting. It's like chemicals. I swear it smells like rotten hot dogs and humus up in here. I just threw up in my mouth. 5:28 AM, we'll be right back.

But if you demand "a little bit." on the end, you wind up with Dodgeball.
posted by Crosius at 2:24 PM on December 6, 2005

Hmmm.... I can't say I ever heard the phrase prior to this thread. I need to get out more I guess. (But if getting out more means I have to see Dodgeball, I think I'll just stay in.)
posted by Doohickie at 3:19 PM on December 6, 2005

"If Fez is saying it and the show is authentically 70's, then maybe it's been around for 30+ years...?"

The show is not authentically '70s. Trust me on this.
posted by litlnemo at 3:50 PM on December 6, 2005

According to iMdB, if it's just "threw up in my mouth" the earliest entry is:
"Saturday Night Live" (1975)
Z105 DJ: ...I just threw up in my mouth. 5:28 AM, we'll be right back...posted by Crosius at 2:24 PM PST on December 6

Just in case anyone thinks that means the reference was from 1975 - it doesn't: that's the year of first broadcast (for tv shows). The character z105 DJ is apparently played by this guy Jimmy Fallon, who was born in 1974.
posted by dash_slot- at 4:59 PM on December 6, 2005

My guess would have been one of the John Hughes films. Pretty in Pink maybe: I have the vaguest recollection of Molly Ringwald's character saying something similar.
posted by phrits at 8:35 PM on December 6, 2005

dash_slot > Doh! Good catch. My bad.
posted by Crosius at 12:10 PM on December 7, 2005