the "no good Perl jobs"/"no good Perl programmers" myth

[Uri Guttman]

>>>>> "m" == muppet  <scott at asofyet.org> writes:

  >> I took the question to mean, are you a medical doctor or a PhD in
  >> $non_medical_subject.

  m> Additionally, it is an oblique reference to a series of 80's Merkin
  m> TV advertisements which featured the actor who played a doctor in a
  m> soap opera shilling some analgesic or something.  His opening line
  m> was, "I'm not a doctor, but i play one on TV," from which point he
  m> went on to extol the virtues of whatever product it was.  This
  m> phrase was so assinine that it worked its way into popular culture
  m> (a la "Where's the beef?") and many people who use it don't even
  m> know where it originated.

thanx for someone who got the real joke reference there. i forgot that
was a merkin cultural thing and didn't cross the pond.

  m> I guess i should've googled first:

  m> http://www.google.com/search?q=%22i'm+not+a+doctor+but+i+play+one+on
  m> +tv%22

  m> E2: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1377058

  >> This line was used in Vick's cough syrup TV commercials during the
  >> 1980s. Peter Bergman, who played a doctor on "The Young and the
  >> Restless," first uttered the phrase. Legend has it that federal
  >> regulators decided that having a TV doctor in the commercials was
  >> perceived by the public as a real doctor endorsing the product,
  >> thus the famous line was born.

i recall the line being used but not which product. it was so satirized
as to ruin the original intent. i bet the line 'i am not a lawyer' was
influenced by that too.

and yes, if you didn't get it by now, my doctor query to nicholas was
purely a joke! of course nick is a medical doctor as he is deep into
perl's guts all the time! :)

uri

-- 
Uri Guttman  ------  uri at stemsystems.com  -------- http://www.stemsystems.com
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