The twelfth of never

Charles Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Fri Sep 22 20:02:21 UTC 2006


You're right, Larry; "ad kalendas Graecas" is certainly one of the earliest examples on record--possibly THE earliest.

Yes, the term "ironym" would be pretty ironic as a "-nym."

--Charlie
___________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:45:54 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: The twelfth of never
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>At 3:17 PM -0400 9/22/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
>>So, no evidence comes to light that "the twelfth of never" was proverbial prior to its use in the 1957 song.  (Incidentally, there have occurred, more recently, scattered instances of the alliterating "ninth of never" and other dates of that month--as well as such expressions as "half-past hell freezes over").
>>
>>However, the phrase does belong to a recognized "folk" pattern discussed at length by the great paremiologist Archer Taylor: "Locutions for 'Never,'" Romance Philology 2 (1949): 103-34.  Such expressions as "at four o'clock next summer," "at next Never's tide (or Nevermass)," "auf Maienostern" (Easter never falls in May).
>>
>>--Charlie

>
>Isn't the earliest instance of this practice the Latin expression "ad kalendas Graecas", i.e. 'at the Greek kalends'?  This was a "12th of Never" of their own, since the Greeks didn't reckon with kalends (calends), which were the first days of each month on the Roman calendar.
>
>(The "Greek calends" were thus a bit like the "Welsh rabbit" or "Irish apricot" of threads of yore, an example of what I was trying to dub "ironym"--except that instead of referring to something else it refers to nothing)
>
>LH

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