You Only Live Once - YOLO

[Charles C Doyle]

Garson--

Research for DMP deemed "You only live once" not "modern"--a conclusion that your research (exemplary, as usual!) has further confirmed.

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:49 PM

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some students who are about to graduate from High School asked me
about a phrase and an acronym that have recently been popularized by
hip hop artist Drake. Here is link to a post on the topic:

You Only Live Once – YOLO
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/24/live-once/

The Yale Books of Quotations has a 1923 citation for “We only live
once.” The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs has a 1966 cite for a
variant: “You only go around (round) once in life.”

The QI entry above lists some cites in the 1800s. It is not easy (for
me) to determine when the phrase is being used as a proverb, motto, or
catch phrase. So I included a variety of examples.

Some extended versions of the saying are attributed to the comedian
Joe E. Lewis such the following in 1952:

You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.

Additional interesting examples would be welcome. Thanks.

Garson

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