irish phrase

[albabarrett]

Where did the saying "That's Gas" originate?

[thewillow]

From Terry Dolan's www.hiberno-irish.com gas // n. adj. colloq. in such phrases as 'He's great gas' (= He is great company, full of fun, making other people laugh); it has been suggested that the widespread HE use of gas in this sense may be connected with laughing gas, a popular name for nitrous oxide, an anaesthetic which may induce laughter; gas-man, a very amusing man, as in the common saying 'You're a gas-man and no mistake about it'; Joyce, F.W., 577.7-8: "great gas with fun-in-the-corner'", Doyle, The Van, 241: "'Between Tom Cruise an' your man (q.v.) from Thornbirds. They were ******' gas.'", Roche, A Handful of Stars, II.3, 65: "Jimmy. . . 'It'd be gas wouldn't it?'", McCourt, Angela's Ashes, 146: "'That's the way I'd like to be in the world, a gas man"'.

[thewillow]

Whoops! That's www.hiberno-english.com of course. Do you know what's gas? The fact that I asterisked the dirty word myself and AB Editor still found fit to censor the message.