Help me Settle this bet with my friend

[ejb626]

My friend and I were having a casual conversation today and I mentioned the ending of Lost, now I don't and never have watched Lost I just heard that the ending involved purgatory and dreams and all that and thought it sounded ridiculous. So I said to my friend "Sounds like they really jumped the shark on Lost", we then got into a 5-minute argument over weather or not "jump the shark" was a real idiom, he was convinced I made it up on the spot. When I got home a e-mailed him the dictionary.com entry, the TVTropes article and the Wikipedia article on the idiom yet he still thinks its fake. I bet him 10 dollars that it was a real idiom and I'd like to redeem my 10 dollars, so what I really just need another piece of evidence that shows that more than one person acknowledges the existence of this idiom.

 

[Irridium]

Can't say I've heard of the saying.

But just because you haven't heard something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[The Austin]

I honestly have never heard this idiom.

Perhaps you meant "Jump the gun"?

 

[Blue Horn]

Isn't "Jumped the shark" a reference to the Fonz on Happy Days?

 

[ejb626]

I honestly have never heard this idiom.

Perhaps you meant "Jump the gun"?

You too? Google it seriously it yields pages and pages of results, just read over one of the articles.

 

[Sassafrass]

I've heard of it but never really understood it.
I think it was flung around a lot in a thread about Heroes when I joined.

 

[afaceforradio]

Just tell him to google the phrase there's literally hundreds of pages using that idiom. There's even a website called jumpingtheshark.com

My friend and I were having a casual conversation today and I mentioned the ending of Lost, now I don't and never have watched Lost I just heard that the ending involved purgatory and dreams and all that and thought it sounded ridiculous. So I said to my friend "Sounds like they really jumped the shark on Lost", we then got into a 5-minute argument over weather or not "jump the shark" was a real idiom, he was convinced I made it up on the spot. When I got home a e-mailed him the dictionary.com entry, the TVTropes article and the Wikipedia article on the idiom yet he still thinks its fake. I bet him 10 dollars that it was a real idiom and I'd like to redeem my 10 dollars, so what I really just need another piece of evidence that shows that more than one person acknowledges the existence of this idiom.

 

[ejb626]

Isn't "Jumped the shark" a reference to the Fonz on Happy Days?

YES! and I told him that and he said I made that up he said I knew nothing about Happy Days and I said "Yes, I don't know anything about Happy Days so I couldn't have made up the origin of the phrase"

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Of course it's real. I'm not sure how to prove it. See if you can find it's use before you where born. Yahtzee uses it at the end of his LEGO Indy review (I think it's that one whichever first had the new music)

 

[Pimppeter2]

Its a real expression, likely your friend is just cheating out.

Don't push him for the 10 dollars, the important thing is that you're right.

 

[Blue Horn]

Isn't "Jumped the shark" a reference to the Fonz on Happy Days?

YES! and I told him that and he said I made that up he said I knew nothing about Happy Days and I said "Yes, I don't know anything about Happy Days so I couldn't have made up the origin of the phrase"

Your friend sounds like someone I wouldn't enjoy being around.

 

[ejb626]

Just tell him to google the phrase there's literally hundreds of pages using that idiom. There's even a website called jumpingtheshark.com

snip

I did that too, he said he refuses to acknowledge its status as a real idiom until I find a Merriam Webster entry on it, hes ignoring page after page of google results.

 

[xitel]

Yes, it's a real idiom In fact, I believe it originated from the movie Jaws. Or Happy Days. I can't remember which.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

What, you mean the Happy Days reference where you symbolize something great, as a last ditch effort to maintain some kind of respect, by having someone do something amazing, i.e., the Fonz ski-jumping a Shark?

Yeah, it's a real idiom. Might not be an appropriate one, but hey, it's still real.

 

[TMAN10112]

A good friend of mine once said; "Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level then beat you with expirience.".

He has proven this true more than once before.