“Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6 feet of me?”
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?” is credited to the actress Mae West (1892-1980), but the saying was not in her movies, such as the frequently (and incorrectly) cited She Done Him Wrong (1933). One West biographer credits West with using the saying in the late 1930s; a Los Angeles policeman escorted West home, and she supposedly made the “gun in your pocket” remark to him. A form of the saying has been cited in print since at least 1961,
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic led many to “socially distance” themselves from others. A pickup line joke was posted on Twitter by Levi the Totally Not Extinct Dinosaur on March 19, 2020:
“Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6ft of me? #SocialDistancingPickUpLines”
Other versions had been posted earlier. “Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” was posted on Twitter by James Stark on February 21, 2012. “Is that a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?” was posted on Twitter by dcr_chem on March 5, 2020. “‘Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you happy to see me? ’ #Covid19PickUpLines” was posted on Twitter by Keon on March 10, 2020.
Wikipedia: 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, and was recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020.
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred R. Shaprio
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 809:
Mae West
U. S. actress, 1892-1980
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”
Quoted in The Wit and Wisdom of Mae West, ed. Joseph Weintraub (1967). Often ascribed to West’s film She Done Him Wrong, but the line does not appear in that or any of her other pre-1967 movies. According to Jill Watts,in Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (2001), “Upon [West’s] arrival [in Los Angeles in 1936], she coined one of her most famous lines; she greeted an LAPD officer assigned to escort her home with ‘Is that a gun in your pocket or are you haooy to see me?’”
Twitter
James Stark
@Just_Stark
Replying to @SLEUTHINGSNAKE
@Sammy_Carriere Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? [wiggles brows]
12:49 PM · Feb 21, 2012·Plume for Android
Twitter
Hunker Down
@jessiewonka
Is that a hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be alive.
3:21 PM · Mar 4, 2020·Tweetbot for iΟS
Twitter
dcr_chem
@dcr_chem
Is that a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?
1:20 PM · Mar 5, 2020·Twitter for Android
Twitter
I Don’t Have a Middle Name
@michigancheri
Hey Stud, is that a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
7:45 PM · Mar 5, 2020·Twitter for Android
Twitter
Seán
@crumlingothic_
Is that an antibacterial hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me
9:48 AM · Mar 9, 2020·Twitter for Android
Twitter
Keon
@DancinEngineer
“Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you happy to see me? “ #Covid19PickUpLines
12:43 AM · Mar 10, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Twitter
SoonerLeesa
@soonerleesa
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
4:52 PM · Mar 13, 2020·Twitter Web App
Twitter
Fletchy McFletchyface☘
@Darth_Pingu
#SocialDistancingPickUpLines “Is that a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
12:30 PM · Mar 19, 2020·TweetDeck
Twitter
Levi the Totally Not Extinct Dinosaur
@levi_bullen
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6ft of me?
#SocialDistancingPickUpLines
GIF
12:52 PM · Mar 19, 2020·Twitter for Android
BuzzFeed
17 Social Distancing Pickup Lines That Prove The Internet Is Extremely Creative
Guys on Hinge be like: “Looking for my quarantine queen.”
Posted on March 22, 2020, at 3:22 p.m.
Shyla Watson
(...)
2.
Levi the Totally Not Extinct Dinosaur
@levi_bullen
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6ft of me? #SocialDistancingPickUpLines
Embedded video
1,250
12:52 PM - Mar 19, 2020
BoredPanda
March 27, 2020
People Are Coming Up With Genius Quarantine Pickup Lines And Here Are 34 Of The Best
Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė
BoredPanda staff
(...)
#5
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket, or are you just happy to be within 6 feet of me?
Twitter
Gem
@GemCrypto
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just pleased to be within 6ft of me?
10:18 AM · Mar 27, 2020·Twitter for Android
Reddit—Jokes
Posted by u/geminirich March 27, 2020
COVID-19 Pick-Up Lines
If COVID-19 doesn’t take you out… Can I?
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6 feet of me?
Since all the public libraries are closed, I’m checking you out instead.
You can’t spell virus without U and I.
Baby, do you need toilet paper because I’m your Prince Charmin.
I saw you from across the bar. Stay there.
Without you my life is empty as a supermarket shelf.
Hey Babe! Can I ship you a drink?
You can’t spell quarantine without “U-R-A-Q-T”.
Twitter
𝕮𝖗𝖚𝖈𝖎𝖋𝖞 𝕸𝖊 𝕺𝖚𝖙 𝕹𝖔𝖜
@DeadKendall
Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket? Or are you just happy to be within 6 feet of me?
3:43 PM · Mar 27, 2020·Twitter for iPhone