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December 23[edit]

Origin of phrase[edit]

What is the origin of the phrase "They don't ask how, they ask how many"? 66.234.210.119 (talk) 09:52, 23 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Where have you seen it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:00, 23 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'm getting that this is an ice hockey thing [1] [2]. 82.13.210.231 (talk) 17:27, 23 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Others think its a "golf cliché" [3] [4] Alansplodge (talk) 22:31, 23 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a use in mixed martial arts. It looks like it has become a sports cliché. In a posting from shortly before November 27, 2010,^[5] it is described by the author as a quote, heard many times around competitive events. The earliest use I spotted is in a November 14, 1996, report of an ice hockey match between the Hartford Whalers and the San Jose Sharks, where it is put in the mouth of then Whalers captain Kevin Dineen, in the form, "Hey, they don't ask how, they ask how many points."^[6] --Lambiam 14:19, 24 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Even earlier, in the Manchester Herald ("Manchester" as in "Manchester, Connecticut") of January 23, 1989 on page 11 of Section 2, leftmost column, "Cardiac Whale is riding high", again quoting Dineen. And again Dineen, quoted on March 27, 1995, this time during his stint at the Philadelphia Flyers. --Lambiam 21:28, 24 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]