You bet your sweet bippy! meaning “Definitely!” comes from a large cache of catchphrases from the TV variety series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, which was wildly popular in the late 1960s. The bippy in this case was a euphemism for “butt.” Other phrases made famous on Laugh-In included Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls and Sock it to me!, the last of which was famously uttered on the show in a cameo by President Richard M. Nixon. Note: In this segment, we mistakenly credit Laugh-In with popularizing “the Devil made me do it.” That phrase was actually popularized by comedian Flip Wilson in his own acts and television shows via his character “Geraldine.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Laugh-In Catch Phrases”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Michael from Trophy Club, Texas.
From Texas. Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Listen, here’s my question.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My Italian grandmother always had a saying. Whenever she wanted to say yes, she would say, you bet your bippy.
So, actually, I’ve got a few questions. One, what is a bippy? Two, what is the value of a bippy? Three, do I have a bippy? Four, why would I want to bet it? And five, if I were to lose my bippy in a wager, what would it cost me to replace it?
Oh, Michael.
Well, I think we can help you with that. This has been growing for a long time. We can definitely help your bippy.
Yeah.
Now, did you say this was your mother or your grandmother?
My grandmother.
Your grandmother. Okay. Are you old enough to remember variety shows from the 1960s by any chance?
Unfortunately, I am, yes.
Well, there was a wacky variety show that was appointment listening for our family called Laugh-In back in the day. Do you remember that one?
I remember Laugh-In well.
The guy in the tricycle.
Yeah, yeah, the guy who would ride the tricycle in his raincoat and fall over. Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin.
Goldie Hawn.
Buzzy.
Yeah, he’d jump at the little wall.
Yeah, yeah, they had what they called a joke wall, which was sort of like an advent calendar where all these little doors would open and people would just stick their heads out and say one-liners. And it was really crazy, really goofy.
When I think of it, I just think of all these psychedelic colors and patterns and go-go boots and people dancing and that kind of thing. And Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, which aired in the late 1960s on Monday nights, I think, spawned a whole lot of catchphrases like, what you see is what you get, and the devil made me do it.
Right.
And sock it to me.
Do you remember Richard Nixon?
That beautiful downtown Burbank.
Yeah.
Yeah, Richard Nixon. Do you remember this? Richard Nixon was actually on that show saying, sock it to me?
Oh, that’s right. I do remember that. Just briefly. Blow in my ear and I’ll follow you anywhere. And relevant to our show, look that up in your Funkin’ Wagnalls.
Oh, yeah.
Right. It was just this crazy hour of goofy 60s fun. And one of the phrases in there was, you bet your sweet bippy. Dick Martin, the comedian, used to say that. And as you might guess, bippy was sort of a euphemism for, you know, your derriere, your tuchus.
You bet your sweet bippy. So indeed you do have one, Michael, I assume. Betting is you can win or lose. It almost seems like yes or no.
Yeah, but it’s another one of those things that comes from the American fascination with gambling. We have all these words in our culture that come from gambling. So it’s just kind of an over-the-top hyperbolic response when you should just be saying yes. You say, you betcha.
You betcha, sweet ass, I do.
Got it. Well, that makes way more sense. Thank you very much for answering my question, and I will keep my bippy where it is.
Take care.
Michael, thanks for calling.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Okay. Very interesting.
And that’s the truth. They talked about it on the show, what the meaning of bippy was. There was an exchange between Martin and Rowan, and Martin says, you bet your sweet bippy I would. And Rowan says, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s a bippy? And Martin says, it’s a baby bip. And Rowan says, yeah, but what’s a bip? And Martin says, a big bippy. And Rowan says, are you sure? And Martin says, you bet your sweet bippy, I’m sure.
So it’s just a totally nonsense word that everyone, as far as we know, came up with. They came up with it. It didn’t exist before they said it.
Oh, that show was such a hoot. Sparkle, Sparkle, and Furr Burfel. It was like a firework. It burned brightly, and then it was gone. I just keep picturing the colors, you know, magenta and chartreuse and orange. And that fast-paced editing that later became pretty standard for television.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you could just have one person stick their head out of a window and say one word, and it was just hilarious.
Well, whether you’re in beautiful downtown Burbank or you want us to look something up in our Funkin’ Wagnalls, you can give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
