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Also note that the OED "table" variant is also with the generic
"something" (does not exclude "a lot") and it goes back to pre-WWI
period--when the "bring X to the party" only meant a political party
(e.g., bring victory/disgrace to the party).<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">8. to<span class="lemmaInDef"
id="eid19429578"> bring (<span class="roman">something</span>)
to the table</span>: to contribute (something worthwhile,
useful, or valuable) to a discussion, project, etc.<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div class="frame">
<div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid19429580">
<div class="quotation" id="eid47391089"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid166635028">1914 <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Times</span></em> 20 Mar. 15/5</span>
Reece can do exquisitely delicate things and bring to the
table a virtuosity which words cannot overpraise.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid47391209"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid166635034">1967 <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Valley Independent (<span
class="roman">Monessen, Pa.</span>) </span></em>
13 Nov. 4/1</span> The major attribute some of the
victors in Tuesday's voting will bring to the table is
mastery of the art of getting re-elected.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid19429581"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid166635041">1978 <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Business Week</span></em>
(Nexis) 2 Oct. 106</span> We're not going to get
Weyerhaeuser away from Morgan Stanley, ... but for smaller
companies we can really bring something to the table.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid19429590"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid166635048">1993 <span
class="smallCaps">D. Irvin</span> <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Behind Bench</span></em> xix.
319</span> You have assistant coaches, and what do
they bring to the table? They're sounding boards for
disgruntled players.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid19429598"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid166635054">2002 <em><span
class="sourcePopup">N.Y. Times Bk. Rev.</span></em>
10 Feb. 7/1</span> Sheppard brought to the table not
only an agile intelligence ... but athleticism and
physical courage.</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
But, just as is the case with "to bring (something) to the party",
there is a negative variant.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/UzCcn">http://goo.gl/UzCcn</a><br>
Dollar Monthly Magazine. Volume 20(2). August 1864<br>
Dinner As an Education. Editor's Table. p. 169/2<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">Don't <em>bring
disagreeable things to the table</em> in your conversation any
more than you would in your dishes. </span></blockquote>
<br>
Note that the expression her is nearly literal--the center of
attention is a conversation around the dinner table. But the exact
same piece shows up in 1870 ( <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/gblQg">http://goo.gl/gblQg</a> ) and 1874 (
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/XtT4I">http://goo.gl/XtT4I</a> ), without any attribution, so the
expression--along with the context--must have been rolling around in
the collective conscience.<br>
<br>
A few years later (1898), this becomes "Don't bring worries to the
table" ( <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/OhbV1">http://goo.gl/OhbV1</a> ), and this one also gets repeated in
several publications (particularly of the "Christian" kind).<br>
<br>
I also note that the expression not only implies a contribution or
value of some kind, but also necessarily sharing of it.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/myRSc">http://goo.gl/myRSc</a><br>
The Scattered nation. Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel. Issues
51. By David Baron. July 1907<br>
Mr. Baron's Journal of a Tour of Dalmatia, Greece, Turkey, etc.
Corfu, May 11, 1905.<br>
p. 384/2<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">I answer for no act but my
own ; yet I suffer with all the tribe of Adam, share their good
and ill, <em>bring my contribution to the table</em> where they
partake in common. </span></blockquote>
<br>
This idea of sharing goes back much further.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/tivLn">http://goo.gl/tivLn</a><br>
The Works of the Reverend Daniel Waterland, D. D. Volume 7. Oxford:
1823<br>
A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist As Laid Down in the
Scripture and Antiquity. <br>
Chapter 5. Of the Consecration of the Elements of Bread and Wine in
the Holy Communion. p. 101<br>
<blockquote type="cite"> I shall only remark farther here, what
naturally follows from all going before, that the consecration, or
sanctification of the <i>elements </i>in this service, is <i>absolute
</i>and <i>universal </i>for the time being; and therefore all
that communicate <i>unworthily </i>are chargeable with <i>profaning
</i>things <i>holy: </i>but the sanctification of <i>persons </i>is
<i>hypothetical, </i>and <i>particular, </i>depending upon the
<i>dispositions </i>which the communicants bring with them to the
Lord's table.</blockquote>
<br>
Chapter 12. The Service of the Eucharist Considered in a Sacrificial
View. p. 370<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="gtxt_body">These circumstances
sufficiently show, that Tertullian had the <i>Communion Service
</i>in his mind, and that was the <i>sacrifice </i>which he
there chose to describe; a complicated sacrifice, consisting of
many articles, and all of them <i>spiritual, </i>but all
summed up in a <i>right faith, pure worship, </i>and <i>good
life. </i></span><span class="st">Such is the <i>Christian
sacrifice</i>; and such we ought to </span>bring constantly
to the <i>Lord's table</i><span class="st">, to the holy and
mystical altar.</span></blockquote>
<br>
This work suffered multiple editions as well and pops up in GB with
different dates (e.g., 1896 <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/bNWze">http://goo.gl/bNWze</a> ). So the metaphor
of bringing something of a spiritual food for sharing at the common
table has existed for quite some time before becoming secularized in
the proverbial expression.<br>
<br>
Here's another, with food as the clear underlying hook, fully
vesting the metaphor in literal and spiritual feasts.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/sI2x7">http://goo.gl/sI2x7</a><br>
The works of Symon Patrick, including his autobiography, ed. by A.
Taylor. Volume 2. Oxford: 1858<br>
Discourse III. A Resolution of Doubts About Receiving the Holy
Communion. p. 82<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">For true love delights to
keep others in countenance ; but they put such to the blush as
were in a poor and mean condition, and could <em>bring nothing
to the common table</em> but themselves : who were by the laws
of the feast, and by the rules of charity, to have feasted at
the charge of the rich, and with as much freedom and confidence,
as if they had brought the provision themselves ; but were
looked upon with such scorn, that it made them sneak, like
wretched beggars, that were to be content with the scraps which
the rich would leave them.<br>
</span></blockquote>
<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
On 5/6/2012 3:50 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4FA6D61A.7070309@gmail.com" type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
A variant or two.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://goo.gl/7ERJy">http://goo.gl/7ERJy</a><br>
Pacific Beat. By T. Jefferson Parker. 1992<br>
p. 47<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">I decided not too long
ago that liking your life isn't everything. You've got to <em>bring
something to the party</em>, make a difference...</span></blockquote>
<br>
The book is mistagged for title, author and date.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://goo.gl/wll2n">http://goo.gl/wll2n</a><br>
Strategy in Action. The Execution, Politics and Payoff of Business
Planning. By Boris Yavitz, William Herman Newman. 1982<br>
Chapter 4. Corporate Input Strategy. p. 60<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">[T]hey seek synergies
among the business-units and with the corporation--the
progressive corporation does "<em>bring something to the party</em>."
</span></blockquote>
<br>
This one is also mistagged for date (1984), but in the opposite
direction.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://goo.gl/Yg69l">http://goo.gl/Yg69l</a><br>
PC Magazine. February 7, 1984<br>
PC News. p. 39/2<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">In other respects, says
venture capitalist Ben Rosen, the Panasonic “doesn't appear to
<em>bring anything to the party</em> that hasn't been there. </span></blockquote>
<br>
And, piece de resistace (1962?!)<br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://goo.gl/YFfK1">http://goo.gl/YFfK1</a><br>
Life. April 27, 1962<br>
[VW "Vanagon" station wagon advertisement] p. 96<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="st">We once introduced a car
that looked like a beetle.<br>
So we felt that a Volkswagen Station Wagon ought to <em>bring
something new to the party</em>, too. </span></blockquote>
<br>
There is no doubt about the date--even if the magazine was
misdated, there is a copyright date on the photo.<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
On 5/6/2012 10:55 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:201205061455.q464IbIH008882@waikiki.cc.uga.edu"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">A current commercial shows vegetables whooping it up in the kitchen with a
bottle of Ensure. A sexy-sounding new kind of Ensure arrives. "You bring a
lot to the party!" says her male counterpart.
This cliche' means 'to have many desirable qualities; to contribute
significantly to someone else's effort or undertaking.'
1984 Jim Shepard _Flight_ (N.Y.: New American Library) 53 [GB snippet:
seems real]: "Your friends are my friends," his mother said. His father
took the spoon from her hand and piled more peas onto his plate. "You *bring
a lot to the party*, you know it?" he said. "I know it," his mother said.
1985 Tim Carrington _The Year They Sold Wall Street_ (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin) 172 [GB snippet: looks real]: Summarizing the Canadian's words,
Jacobs wrote: " 'I will *bring a lot to the party*. I can help the firm."
And many exx. steadily since.
JL
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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