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Does anyone have any insite as to how "Mickey Mouse" came to be used as a derogatory adjective?
I'm sure many of you have hear it, "that's was Mickey Mouse way of doing that", that sort of thing. I wonder where it came from. I mean, when I think of Mickey Mouse I think of quality, and expensive. How did it come to mean the opposite?
My guess would be that Mickey Mouse actually started as a cartoon, which are often, well, cartoony, silly, non-serious in nature, etc.
In the past, the Disney brand was synonymous with high quality, and maybe by default you connect Mickey Mouse to Disney and peg it as a quality product.
There's definitely a difference between a cartoon and an animated feature, but I would guess that to many they are one in the same. That's a whole different topic though...
i have no idea where it came from...but i agree with you about it representing quality etc. It actually kind of irrates me when i hear ppl say that...lol
According to wiktionary, it's origin was as follows:
Quote:
The adjective sense developed during the second world war, after a large quantity of low quality counterfeit Mickey Mouse watches flooded the UK.