Good Night, Nurse

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Debbie Kaufman. I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.

What are you calling us about?

Well, I grew up hearing and invariably using the phrase, good night, nurse.

And I never once thought about where it came from and what it meant.

And so when I grew up, I use it every now and then with friends,

And they look at me like I have three heads.

What are you saying and why are you saying that?

And I got to thinking, I have no idea.

Well, Debbie, we love these.

What kind of context would you use that in?

If I was frustrated instead of cussing,

Like say if somebody pulled out in front of me, I’d say, well, good night, nurse.

-huh.

Mm—

Yeah, it’s kind of an exclamation of surprise or disagreement or…

Yes.

Or, yeah.

You stub your toe and…

Yes.

Or disbelief even.

It comes out when somebody says something that is just kind of shocking or not something you were expecting.

Exactly.

There’s a fellow by the name of Eric Partridge who is a British lexicographer

Who collected a lot of catchphrases and old sayings and a lot of slang and language,

And his work is really interesting because he’s just got so much that nobody else has for what that’s worth.

And he does have entries for this expression, good night, nurse.

And in my own work in trying to track this phrase down and find some uses, the earliest use that I could find is 1908.

And he says that he probably dates from around 1910.

So he and I are in the same ballpark there.

Okay.

And it’s kind of said with enthusiasm and emphasis, right?

Right, exactly.

Good night, nurse.

Good night, nurse.

Right?

Yes.

Yeah.

Eric Partridge speculates that it really became popular during World War I

Because of all the soldiers who passed through the military hospital,

Because there were actual nurses there.

And there were a couple movies that came out.

There was a Fatty Arbuckle movie.

I think there was a Mae West movie that either had songs in them by that name

Or the movies themselves were titled Good Night Nurse.

So there are a lot of different ways in which this expression was spread.

And there’s a bunch of related expressions, too.

Sure.

So, Debbie, are you going to go back to your friends and tell them that you don’t have three heads?

And in fact…

Well, yeah, they only have two heads.

No.

But it’s nice to know that it did come from somewhere that I just didn’t make it up.

No, you did not.

You did not make it up.

Oh, right.

Well, thank you very much.

It’s a good old-fashioned expression, and I think you should keep using it.

Okay. Well, thank you.

Thank you, Debbie.

Okay. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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