[Ads-l] Tough luck!

[Jonathan Lighter]

I suppose if one is an American Victorian truly sympathetic to a recently
decorated Russian prince who stole a fortune in diamonds to give to his
girlfriend and wound up in internal exile because of it, it might not be
ironic.

JL

On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 6:08 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why do you single out the 1874 quotation as sarcastic? ISTM that all of
> them have the same meaning as today: It's a bad outcome/fact/state of
> affairs, but that's the way it turned out.
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 4:20 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > OED: 1912
> >
> > Note that 1874 is sarcastic. which seems to me to be the more common
> > nuance. (Cf. "Tough!")
> >
> > 1871  _Chicago Tribune_ (March 12) 3:  The latter's small score was the
> > aggregation of several 2 and 3 runs, combined with tough luck in the way
> of
> > leaves, kisses, and close misses.
> >
> > 1873 New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire) (Aug. 21)  1:  Uncle
> > Simon was surprised to see the bottom of the meal chest. "Tough luck!"
> said
> > he briefly, "but there's swamp pork to eke it out."
> >
> > 1874 _Daily Constitution_ (Middletown, Conn.) (June 29) 2: The young man
> is
> > banished to the Caucassus [sic] for life [for handing stolen diamonds
> over
> > to his paramour] and has been deprived of the Cross of St. George which
> he
> > had just won distinguished service in the Khivan campaign. Tough luck!
> >
> > Newspaper exx. explode at this point, suggesting that the phrase had been
> > around for some time.
> >
> > The "1832" at Google Books is bogus.
> >
> > JL
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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."

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