Quote: No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 20 07:57:59 UTC 2014


The quotation in the subject line was ascribed to the author William
S. Burroughs in 1959, the same year "Naked Lunch" was published. Would
some list member be willing to provide an interpretation?

Burroughs seems to be suggesting that a frying pan may be used as an
implement of murder; therefore, the wielder of the pan "owns" death or
potentially "owns" death.

Here is the earliest citation I've located. Thanks for any help you
can provide. A request for a trace of this saying was sent to me via
twitter.

[ref] 1959 Summer, Big Table, Number 2, "Anyone Who Can Pick Up a
Frying Pan Owns Death" by Alan Ansen, Start Page 32, Quote Page 37,
Published quarterly by Big Table, Inc., Chicago, Illinois. (Verified
on paper)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
A tall ectomorph--in Tangier the boys called him El Hombre
Invisible--his persona constituted by a magic triad of fedora, glasses
and raincoat rather than by a face, his first presence is that of a
con man down on his luck. But that impression soon gives way to the
feeling that, whatever his luck may be, yours has been very good. A
cracker accent and use of jive talk fail to conceal incisive
intelligence and a frightening seriousness. "No one owns life," says
Burroughs, "but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death."
[End excerpt]

Garson

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list