Not Chopped Liver (1947); Texas Toast (1960); Ants on a Log (1983)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sat Dec 27 11:18:14 UTC 2003


NOT CHOPPED LIVER

   On 9 August 2002, Michael Quinion--a brilliant OED contributor and web
wordsmith who is not chopped liver--asked this:

Here's one for you to chew on. Subscribers have suddenly started toask me
about the origins of "what am I, chopped liver?". (Could a quiz have featured it
recently?) I've done the obvious research, but can't find even the slightest
clue as to why this odd expression could have come about. Any ideas, anyone?

   It's 1954 in the HDAS, but there's better.

5 April 1947, GETTYSBURG TIMES (PA), pg. 3, col. 1:
_GRAZIANO ASKS_
_OPPORTUNITY_
_TO MEET ZALE_
By SID FEDER
   New York, April 3 (AP)--(...)
   The bash boulevardiers insist you could put on the second go-round of that
hair-raiser in Moose Jaw, Sask., or Elephant Butte, N. M., and still draw a
half-a-million dollars, which is not, as the boys say, chopped liver.

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TEXAS TOAST

   I don't know what the next DARE will have....If I'm not chopped liver, I'm
toast.

   7 November 1960, GREAT BEND DAILY TRIBUNE (Great Bend, Kansas), pg.5, col.
3 (Safeway ad):
_Sklylark Bread_   20-oz. loaf   27c
Texas Style Thick
Sliced White Sandwich
loaf Perfect for
Texas Toast

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ANTS ON A LOG

   I've posted 1960 for "bugs on a log."  I thought I'd do better for "ants,"
but this is the best that's here.

   4 May 1983, LETHBRIDGE HERALD (Canada), pg. C2, col. 8:
Canadian Western Natural Gas Company
_Blue Flame Kitchen_
Tested recipes
(...)
      ANTS ON A LOG
   Spread celery sticks with peanut butter, or cheese whiz.  Sprinkle with a
few raisins and serve.



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