I'm not sure of the source of the phrase, but I may be able to shed some more light on Erv Kasian. In the early 1970s I lived in a rural part of north central Illinois and whenever we took a field trip into Chicago, the school would hire a charter bus company to drive us. Every time we started the trip, the bus driver (who was always the same guy) would tell the exact joke mentioned at the beginning of the thread. It makes me wonder if the bus driver was Erv. BTW-Is this thread really 10 years old?