[Ads-l] weakness leaving the body

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Fri Sep 2 17:48:21 UTC 2016


Barry Popik has the same interesting "Washington Post" citation as the DMP.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/pain_is_weakness_leaving_the_body_exercise_adage

[Begin excerpt]
6 June 1991, Washington (DC) Post, “In Quantico, You Can’t Get There
>From Here; Effort to Redo Addresses Hits Resistance” by Avis
Thomas-Lester and Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, Metro, pg. B1:
Controversy doesn’t come often to the tiny backwater perched on the
Potomac River and surrounded on three sides by Quantico Marine Base,
45 miles south of Washington. Except for the occasional brawl in the
town’s eight restaurants, which serve a mainly military crowd, things
are pretty quiet. The town’s major industries are barbershops
specializing in crew cuts and variety stores selling T-shirts with
slogans such as “Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body.” The proverb is an
unofficial slogan of the U.S. Marine Corps; it is also common among
“extreme” athletes.
[End excerpt]

Since the slogan was emblazoned on a T-shirt antedating may possible
in the future.

Garson


On Fri, Sep 2, 2016 at 1:36 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> The magnificent Dictionary of Modern Proverbs traces this back to 1991 (the "magnificent" characterization is not bragging on my part, as all credit goes to Charlie Doyle for the book's magnificence).
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, September 2, 2016 1:22 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: weakness leaving the body
>
> Apparently physical trainers are fond of saying, "Pain is [just] weakness
> leaving the body."
>
> The earliest I find is from GB, 1996, in the alternative form "Soreness
> is...." That writer, a Navy SEAL, actually advises the wisdom of
> distinguishing between soreness and pain, making him a less demanding
> taskmaster than most who came later.
>
> JL
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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