Tricky Dick - S3-E3
Trivia: Dick's rant about his perceived evils of rock music is identical to Reverend Moore's (also played by John Lithgow) opposition to dancing from the film "Footloose."
Trivia: Dick is never seen walking in this episode and is only in an upright position when he moves from the chair in the lounge room to the wheelchair in the opening scene. This is because John Lithgow hurt his ankle playing tennis, and the episode was written to allow him to be in a wheelchair for the entire episode.
Trivia: This episode marks Phil Hartman's final onscreen role in his lifetime. He was murdered 8 days after it aired.
Trivia: When Sally is giving everyone instructions to look for the missing Dick, her speech mirrors that of Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive (searching every outhouse, hen house, doghouse, etc). She even mimics his Texas accent.
Answer: The writers often have Dick respond to Mary with a retort that he thinks is in the common vernacular but makes a mistake in wording that is often funny. Dick seems to be imputing a criticism from Mary and responds with a corruption of the more common "I'm going to wear your ass like a hat!" I doubt it has anything to do with owing taxes. Probably just one of the writers assuming a common regional phrase would be universally recognized.
That makes total sense. I always interpreted it as perhaps snowshoes are an expensive item, and given that he was blaming Mary for his newfound financial woes, he was equating her living off his generosity and used snowshoeing as a metaphor.
Phaneron