Season One Balki-isms

Balki-ism: "Am I looking up Larry Appleton?"
Original: Someone apparently told Balki to "look up" Larry Appleton when he got to Chicago, and Balki made his own expression in asking if he were "looking up" Larry to his face.

Balki-ism: "America . . . land of my dreams, home of the Whopper."
Original: A twist on "Land of the free, home of the brave," a line from America's National Anthem, mixed with "Home of the Whopper," an advertising phrase for Burger King.

Balki-ism: "You’re not exactly pushing me to my Outer Limits."
Original: "Pushing me to my limits."

Balki-ism: "You come out here right now you unfair person and I mean maybe!"
Original: "And I don't mean maybe!"

Balki-ism: "Not until I get a few things off my neck."
Original: "Get something off my chest."

Balki-ism: ". . . you’re making one big mistake, Ghost Buster!"
Original: Just meant to say "buster."

Balki-ism: "You know someday I'm going to look at you and say 'That's my cousin, Larry Appleton, the best photographer in the world.  And do you know why?  Because you're cracked."
Original: Larry commented that he was a crack (first rate) photographer and Balki twisted it to "cracked" which generally means crazy.

Balki-ism: "Don't you think you're stepping on her privacies?"
Original: A turn of the phrase "stepping on one's privacy."

Balki-ism: "Okay, wise eyes!"
Original: Wise guy.

Balki-ism: "I don't think it's right, just because she has a public figure."
Original: It's common to call someone a public figure but when speaking about Dolly Parton and mentioning that she has a public figure conjures up a whole different image

Balki-ism: After Larry says he has no integrity Balki assures him "Of course you do.  You're full of it."
Original: Balki meant this as a compliment but usually when you tell someone they're full of it, it means "full of crap" or something similar

Balki-ism: "After work do you want to have a happy hour with me?"
Original: Asking someone to happy hour with you is okay, but asking them to have a happy hour with you sounds like innuendo

Balki-ism: "So, this is one of your American mating places."
Original: Meant to say "meeting places"

Balki-ism: "It’s a jungle out there and I don’t know how to swing."
Original: A clever combination of phrases . . . "It's a jungle out there" and "don't know how to swing."  "Jungle" usually refers to the world at large, a complicated and scary place, and "swing" is a term for fast and loose dating, but together it brings to mind swinging in a jungle like Tarzan

Balki-ism: "Put on your boogie sandals."
Original: Put on your boogie shoes.

Balki-ism: "Well nobody twisted your leg to make you do that Cagney impression."
Original: Nobody twisted your arm (a term for making someone do something)

Balki-ism: " . . . you lucky son of a goat."
Original: Son of a gun

Balki-ism: "Oh, to get an official document like that must make you so aroused!"
Original: More innuendo . . . he simply meant to say "excited" instead of "aroused"

Balki-ism: " . . . you will give me my lesson in front of the wheel."
Original: Behind the wheel

Balki-ism: "Cousin Larry, I have been reading the manuel."
Original: Manuel (a Spanish name) is how Balki reads the word "Manual"

Balki-ism: "You can fool some of the sheep all of the time but you can’t fool some of the sheep all of the time."
Original: You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time

Balki-ism: "Printed in Hicksville, New York, by somebody named Pat Pending."
Original: When Balki reads the bottom line on the eye chart, he mistakes the term Pat. Pending (which stands for patent pending) as being someone's name.

Balki-ism: "I may be nervous but I know my G’s and U’s."
Original: Minding your P's and Q's (a term which now means to mind your manners)

Balki-ism: "You made me stick with it when I was ready to throw up the towel."
Original: Throw in the towel, a boxing term which means to give up

Balki-ism: Larry: "Intellectually I know I’m overly possessive . . . almost neurotic about it."  Balki: "Erotic?  Don’t be ridiculous!"
Original: Balki's confusion between the word neurotic and erotic adds innuendo to this joke

Balki-ism: "I think it’s time I took your back by the horns."
Original: Take the bull by the horns, meaning to take charge of something

Balki-ism: "Boy, somebody got up on the wrong side of the flock."
Original: When someone gets up on the wrong side of the bed they're in a bad mood

Balki-ism: "What is this? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Heckle?"
Original: Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, two extreme opposites of one classic literary character; Jeckyll and Heckle were a pair of cartoon crows by TerryToons

Balki-ism: "Now you go mix and mangle."
Original: Mix and mingle, means to socialize

Continue to Season Two Balki-isms