A Conversation for Ask h2g2

Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 1

Hoovooloo

This has been bugging me, and several friends. It's a common phrase, lately much used for ironic effect as in "Chaos, Panic, Disorder. My work here is done." (and who originated *that?).

It's so common it seems almost to have passed into the language. But from WHERE? It sounds like something from a Western. I've guessed at the Lone Ranger, but I can't confirm it.

PLEASE - does anyone know who originally said "My work here is done" as a sort of tagline or catchphrase?

And are there any other "famous" uses of it? (i.e. in film scripts - one of my friends suggested that Bill Murray may have said it in Ghostbusters, but this proved not to be the case...)

Thanks in advance.

H.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 2

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

The Mr. Bean movie?
Milton's Paradise Lost?
A Warner Bros. cartoon?
A Mel Brooks movie?
Damn Yankees?
Or and a big OR Bart Simpson?


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 3

Mother of God, Empress of the Universe

It was my boy. A mere six days of honest work he did in his life when stepped back and said "my work here is done." Then he settled down on the couch with a cosmicpolitan, propped his feet up on the coffee table, hit the 'ON' button on the remote control, and sat back to see what would happen next.

He was such a promising lad, too. *sigh* Now he sits around getting flabby and waiting for the tithes to come rolling in, living his life in memories of the good-ol'-days, back when he still had a reputation as a shaker and mover.

Kids. Humph. You never know how they're gonna turn out.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 4

Spaceechik, Typomancer

Don't know if this is where it started, but I hear it at the end of an advert in the U.S. for Sprint PCS (the "other" cell phone system), said by a guy in a black trenchcoat. You're right, though -- seems almost ubiquitous lately. smiley - huh

SC smiley - planet


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 5

Cheerful Dragon

According to my 'Oxford Dictionary of Quotations', it was penned by that famous wordsmith 'Anonymous', and comes from a blacksmith's gravestone dated 1746.

My sledge and anvil lie declined
My bellows too have lost their wind
My fire's extinct, my forge decayed,
And in the dust my vice is laid
My coals are spent, my iron's gone
My nails are drove, my work is done.

OK, it's not quite 'My work here is done', but this sort of thing is often adapted / misquoted and the change lives on.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 6

Just Bob aka Robert Thompson, plugging my film blog cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk

Leonard Nimoy: "My work here is done."
Barney: "But you didn't do anything."
LN: "Oh, *chuckles*, didn't I?"
*Beams up as if he were Spock.*

This is from the Simpsons, but I don't think it's the original by any means.
Could the original quote be from Spock in the original series?


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 7

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

It sounds a bit superhero-y to me, don't we have any comic book nerds around here to go with all the computer smiley - geeksmiley - geek

smiley - winkeye
smiley - puffk


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 8

Geoff Taylor - Gullible Chump

Was it Jesus? I know he is quoted as saying "It is finished" just before he died (tempararily, of course smiley - winkeye) - so maybe that's been paraphrased...


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 9

Gnomon - time to move on

No, I checked in an online bible and couldn't find any matches. God did in fact rest when his work (creation) was finished, but he didn't talk about it (despite what his Mammy said earlier in this thread). Jesus said very little after he came back the dead.

It wasn't Gandalf, was it? I haven't got a copy of TLOTR to hand.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 10

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

Erm... was it Mary Poppins?


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 11

Brother Maynard

Was it Mary Poppins?


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 12

Brother Maynard

Blimey, simulpost! Must be true then!


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 13

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

I just did some googling and I am pretty sure it was Mary Poppins smiley - biggrin

smiley - cheers

smiley - puffk


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 14

Gnomon - time to move on

I thought she said "Oim feeneeshed 'ere guvna".


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 15

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

That was Dick van Dyke - 'Gor blimey Mary Poppins!'

How could you suggest that somebody 'practically prfect in every way' would have diction like that?!


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 16

Cheerful Dragon

If anybody can find a firmly accredited version that predates 1746, I'll accept it. Until then, I'm sticking with that
gravestone. Apparently, the verse has cropped up on a number of blacksmiths' tombstones, so it probably predates 1746. IMHO, 'My work is done' is close enough to 'My work here is done'.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 17

Cheerful Dragon

If anybody can find a firmly accredited version that predates 1746, or a firmly accredited version of 'My work here is done', I'll accept it. Until then, I'm sticking with that gravestone. Apparently, the verse has cropped up on a number of blacksmiths' tombstones, so it probably predates 1746. IMHO, 'My work is done' is close enough to 'My work here is done'.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 18

Gnomon - time to move on

I don't think the two are the same at all. "My work is done" means I am finished and now I am going to rest. "My work here is done" means I've sorted you lot out and now I am going on to my next assignment. It's the sort of thing Dr Who would say, or the lone gunslinger who comes to town. I'll watch the end of Mary Poppins this evening and check it out.


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 19

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

I agree that they are totally different things. Will you be going to your local video library for that Gnomon, or is it one you happen to have lying about the house smiley - winkeye

smiley - puffk


Who originally said "My work here is done"?

Post 20

Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like

>"Chaos, Panic, Disorder. My work here is done." (and who originated *that?).<
I'll claim that one on behalf of Spikey, King of the Goblins (U148884), infrequent user of this site, whose been signing his e-mail;s like that for several years now.
I will e-mail and ask him the origin, if it's not original...
smiley - shark


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