Sandburg "Slang" Quote

[Fred Shapiro]

This is directed at Jon Lighter and other slang scholars:  Has anyone come
across evidence of the Carl Sandburg "slang" quote earlier than the
citation below?

Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes to
work.
Carl Sandburg, quoted in Troy (N.Y.) Times Record, 31 July 1943

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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