Quote: I do not think I have a tape-worm; therefore I have no claim to call myself 'WE' (George Horatio Derby 1855 November)

[Garson O'Toole]

Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the
right to use the editorial 'we'.

This joke has many variants. In October 2009 Ben Zimmer wrote on the
ADS list about the royal "we" tapeworm joke:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0910B&L=ADS-L&P=R1444

He located an edition of a work published in 1897 titled Phoenixiana
by John Phoenix (the pen name of George Horatio Derby) in which a
version of the core joke was told, and he said that Derby wrote it
"some time in the 1850s". The 1897 edition has two copyright notices:
COPYRIGHT, BY D. APPLETON & CO., EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE.
COPYRIGHT, BY THE CAXTON CLUB, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN.

Ben is correct and for convenience here are some details and links to
documents in Google Books concerning his intriguing discovery. A
review of the forthcoming book "Phoenixiana: Or Sketches and
Burlesques" by John Phoenix appeared in The Knickerbocker in November
of 1855. The review included the tapeworm joke. Phoenixiana itself was
published in 1856 (with a copyright notice of 1855) [KNB] [PHX]:

[KNB] 1855 November, The Knickerbocker, Editor's Table, Page 520,
Volume XLVI, Number 5, Samuel Hueston, New York. (Google Books full
view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=XkP02QDLsiwC&q=tape-worm#v=snippet&

It will be perceived that I have not availed myself of the editorial
privilege of using the plural noun in speaking of myself. This is
simply because I consider it a ridiculous affectation. I am a 'lone,
lorn man,' unmarried, (the LORD be praised for His infinite mercy!)
and though blessed with a consuming appetite, which causes the keepers
of the house where I board to tremble, I do not think I have a
tape-worm; therefore I have no claim to call myself 'WE:' and I shall
by no means fall into that editorial absurdity.

[PHX] 1856, Phoenixiana; or Sketches and Burlesques by John Phoenix
[George Horatio Derby], Phoenix Installed Editor of the San Diego
Herald, Page 96, D. Appleton and Co., New York. (Google Books full
view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=C7EIAAAAQAAJ&q=tape+worm#v=snippet&

Garson

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