Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 15:50:43 EDT From: Larry Horn Subject: n x short of a y: the mother lode It turns out that (1) there is indeed an archive of these expressions, and that (2) 'a few french fries short of a Happy Meal' is attested, as the archive reveals. Anyone interested can track it down either through the World-Wide Web (URL is http:///www.misty.com/laughweb/canonical.lists, and just open the one called Canonical List of Fulldeckisms) or on the internet via rec.humor. (I take it that this is essentially the list that Lynne Murphy was remembering.) Here are just a very few entries from what is a VERY long list (45K): __________________________ A couple of slates short of a full roof. A couplet short of a sonnet. A few beers short of a six-pack / a six-pack short of a case. A few birds shy of a flock. A few bombs/melons short of a full load. A few bricks short of a wall / hod / load. A few clowns short of a circus. A few clues shy of a solution. A few ears short of a bushel. A few feathers short of a whole duck. A few fish short of a string. A few guppies short of an aquarium. A few kopeks short of a ruble. A few links shy of a chain. A few open splices. A few peas short of a pod/casserole. A few pickles short of a jar. A few pies short of a holiday. A few planes short of an Air Force / hangar. A few points short of a polygon. A few revisions behind. A few sandwiches/apples/ants short of a picnic. One flying buttress short of a cathedral. One Froot Loop shy of a full bowl. One fruit short of a basket. One gene short of a full chromosome. One goose short of a gaggle. --> One hamburger / a few french fries short of a Happy Meal. One handle short of a suitcase. One hot pepper short of an enchilada. ...and so on. Neither of the two mentioned earlier today ('a few tiles short of a mah-jongg set', 'a few eggs short of a dozen', from Lynne Murphy and Kim McKinzey respectively (I think)) were catalogued, but then it does seem to be an extremely productive process. Larry