"Only dead fish go with the flow"

Benjamin Zimmer bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Sat Jul 4 03:31:21 UTC 2009


Sarah Palin's line "Only dead fish go with the flow" should be in the
running for Quote of the Year (along with half a dozen Sanfordisms),
though as a "modern proverb" it's not original to her. Google Books
suggests it appears in _My Own Alphabet_ by Bobbie Louise Hawkins
(1989). Any earlier attestations/variations?


--Ben Zimmer

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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