Too soon oldt und too late schmardt (1952)

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jan 17, 2005, at 8:09 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 4:21 AM -0500 1/17/05, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>> TOO SOON OLD, TOO LATE SMART
>
> We had this as a legend on a pitcher in our house when I was growing
> up, almost certainly pre-dating '52, in the form (more or less) "We
> get too soon oldt und too late schmardt".  I'd be surprised if it
> couldn't be pushed back into the 40's or earlier.

when i was a child, back in the 40's and 50's in pennsylvania dutch
country, this slogan was offered in various ways -- burned into pieces
of wood, mostly -- in gifte shoppes in my native land.  along with
"throw momma from the train a kiss" and similar crap.

it did not occur to me at the time that i should actually *buy* some of
this stuff so that fifty years later i could prove that people were
saying that sort of thing (however grossly inaccurately) back then.  oh
lord.  had i but known.

arnold