Origin of the phrase "parts is parts"

December 9, 2004 5:41 PM

"Parts is parts". Have you ever heard this phrase? I acquired a few bumper stickers from a thrift store on the Oregon coast with said phrase on it- I thought it was funny. It was packed in with stickers making fun of Reagan, Qaddafi, Khomeni, and so forth. It's got to be from something, doesn't it? Do you know what?

I did search on Google, and although it comes up with a bunch of matches, none seem to tell me where the hell it comes from. Sigh.

posted by thethirdman to Writing & Language (10 answers total)

I think it was a Wendy's commercial making fun of McNuggets. Customer asks what's in 'em. The blase clerk says "Parts is parts."
posted by Tubes at 5:43 PM on December 9, 2004

It's from one of the Wendy's commercials in the same series as "Where's the beef." They were talking about chicken nuggets.
posted by kindall at 5:43 PM on December 9, 2004

Tubes has it just right. It's from the "Where's The Beef" era of Wendy's commercials.
posted by briank at 5:44 PM on December 9, 2004

Nice, solved it in three minutes. Good work team AskMeFi!

I miss Dave Thomas.
posted by fenriq at 6:28 PM on December 9, 2004

Yep, it was the Wendy's ads.

The ad company in question is Cliff Freeman and Partners [warning: Flash].
posted by kreinsch at 6:33 PM on December 9, 2004

I think the origin behind the origin is this story I remember reading as a kid.
posted by atchafalaya at 6:59 PM on December 9, 2004

I seem to remember a quote that goes, "Dead is dead. Parts is parts. Dead guys is parts," but can't remember for the life of me what it's from. I can't even remember if I really heard it, or just heard my geek friends quoting it. A google search turns up a few hits, but I can't find the original source.
posted by amarynth at 9:21 PM on December 9, 2004

amarynth, that version comes from the Cyberpunk 2020 game.
posted by NortonDC at 2:10 AM on December 10, 2004

I miss Dave Thomas.

I notice they're using a pic of Dave in a recent TV ad. I hope they get rid of that "Mr. Wendy" character soon. He's terrible.
posted by Doohickie at 6:56 AM on December 10, 2004

I'm positive I've heard this phrase used in a nudity / sexual context, where "parts" refer to genitalia. But I've got two slightly different meanings in mind. One is a matronly woman saying to a shy cusp-of-puberty boy "take your clothes off and get in the bath, it's nothing I haven't seen before. Parts is parts". The other is a humourous explanation for bisexuality, like "I like sex with both men and women. Parts is parts".

Alas, I don't have citations for either. Maybe I made it all up. A quick Google search for ["parts is parts" nudity] confirms I'm not the only one, though.
posted by Nelson at 8:18 AM on December 10, 2004