What’s the good word? John Kendrick Bangs used the catch- phrase in his poem “The Answer” (1913): What’s the good word Now that’s a phrase I truly love to hear, Ane when tis heard, I always smile and promptly answer ‘CHEER’ . . . Bangs apparently did not coin the American expression, mean- ing “what’s the news?” which is first recorded about three years earlier. Other similar American greetings include What’s up? and What do you say? (both from about the 1800s) and What’s cooking? (the 1940s). |