tickee

No tickee, no washee, as the man at the laundry said.

Publishing . . . Huh? Walter Jon Williams 2008

No tickee, no washee ... by truthtruffle (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 120 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008 at 6: 29: 05 AM

Obama Will Spend over $3 Trillion on ECONWAR! Fire and Penalize the Bank Oligarchs 2008

There is a smattering of stereotype in the form of the Chinese laundry man named Sing Fung, played by Phillip Ahn, who actually says, “No tickee, no washee.”

Tex Rides with the Boy Scouts (1937) Jacqueline T Lynch 2007

There is a smattering of stereotype in the form of the Chinese laundry man named Sing Fung, played by Phillip Ahn, who actually says, “No tickee, no washee.”

Archive 2007-08-01 Jacqueline T Lynch 2007

Wall that critter he commenced hoppin around and a talkin faster 'n a buzz saw could turn, and all I could make out wuz -- mee song lay tang moo me oo lay ung yong wo say mee tickee.

Uncle Josh Weathersby's "Punkin Centre Stories" 1903

Wall that critter he commenced hoppin around and a talkin faster 'n a buzz saw could turn, and all I could make out wuz -- mee song lay tang moo me oo lay ung yong wo say mee tickee.

Uncle Josh's Punkin Centre Stories Cal Stewart 1887

"Plenty mine tickee, tickee," he said; but it did not seem to occur to him that it would be advantageous to have a wash.

The Dingo Boys The Squatters of Wallaby Range George Manville Fenn 1870

He stood witness to the plights and sufferings of his fellow Chinese as indentured laborers on sugarcane plantations, as gold miners bullied by their white competitors, as railroad builders taking on the most dangerous jobs, and as laundrymen toiling away with steam and starch, supposedly muttering, "No tickee, no washee."

NPR Topics: News 2010

He stood witness to the plights and sufferings of his fellow Chinese as indentured laborers on sugarcane plantations, as gold miners bullied by their white competitors, as railroad builders taking on the most dangerous jobs, and as laundrymen toiling away with steam and starch, supposedly muttering, "No tickee, no washee."

NPR Topics: News 2010

My guess is he's got a stereotypical image of Chinese immigrants speaking a syntactically simplified pidgin English (of the "no tickee, no shirtee" variety) and is somehow mapping that back onto Chinese native-language use (their ideograms, even!).

Language Log 2009