[Ads-l] It isn't about the money

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Mon Jul 13 13:17:05 UTC 2020


To quote Mr. Burns: EXXcellent!

JL

On Sun, Jul 12, 2020 at 5:21 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Excellent topic and citations, JL. Great citation, Fred. Following
> this lead I found that Kin Hubbard published the quip in his
> syndicated column "Abe Martin" in 1916.
>
> Date: November 24, 1916
> Newspaper: Franklin Evening News
> Newspaper Location: Franklin, Pennsylvania
> Article: Abe Martin
> Syndicate: National Newspaper Service
> Quote Page 4, Column 4
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55235678/haintthmoney/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> When a feller says: "It hain't th' money, but th' principle o' th'
> thing," it's th' money.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1999 Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas senator, attributed the saying
> to H.L. Mencken, but I have not yet found any support for that
> attribution.
>
> [ref] Website: CNN, Article title: Transcript: Former Sen. Dale
> Bumpers, Date on website: January 21, 1999, Website description: World
> news website for cable television channel. (Accessed cnn.com on July
> 12, 2020) link [/ref]
>
> https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/01/21/transcripts/bumpers.html
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> It was a breach of his family trust It is a sex scandal. H.L. Mencken
> said one time, "When you hear somebody say, 'This is not about money,'
> it's about money."
> (LAUGHTER)
> And when you hear somebody say, "This is not about sex," it's about sex.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson O'Toole
> QuoteInvestigator.com
>
> On Sun, Jul 12, 2020 at 1:19 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > The Yale Book of Quotations has the following similar quotation:
> >
> > When a fellow says, "It hain't the money, but th' principle of the
> thing," it's th' money.
> > Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard, Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2020 4:40 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: It isn't about the money
> >
> > At some point last year, I jotted this down from Deadline: White House
> > (MSNBC):
> >
> > "There's an old Hollywood adage: 'When they say it's not about the money,
> > it's about the money.'"
> >
> > 1996 San Francisco Examiner (Feb. 25) 28: "But to borrow the oft-repeated
> > remark of New York Giants executive George Young, "When they say it isn't
> > about money, it's always about money."
> >
> > 1999 Indiana [Pa.] Gazette (Feb. 19) 13: With labor contract issues
> > constantly in the news, Willie, our ex-shoeshine boy, says the old line
> is
> > still true: "When someone tells you it isn't about money...it's about
> > money."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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