Idiom or Modern Proverb: Put your money where your mouth is (antedating 1921 April 26)

Jesse Sheidlower jester at PANIX.COM
Tue Mar 23 17:50:29 UTC 2010


On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 07:51:03PM -0400, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> Put your money where your mouth is.
>
> The online Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms has this phrase listed
> in the category money. It is designated informal and no date is given.
> The Yale Book of Quotations has it in the Modern Proverbs section and
> provides a 1945 citation. One might utter it as an admonishment or as
> a philosophical guideline for better living.

Thanks for this antedating, Garson. Note that OED has this,
under MONEY n. Phrases P2.a.(n), with a first quotation from
Zora Neale Hurston in 1942.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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