Now is the time for all good men...; You'd better believe it; Apgar scale

[Barry A. Popik]

     It's too darned hot!

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APGAR SCALE

    At the DSNA meeting, Allan Metcalf showed a method for evaluating the
success of new words.  He based it on the famous "Apgar" scale (for Dr.
Virginia Apgar), which evaluates the health of newborns.
    Just below the Mel Torme obituary, in the Sunday New York Times, 6 June
1999, pg. 50, col. 1, is the obituary of Dr. L. Joseph Butterfield, who
championed the Apgar scale by developing the mnemonic and getting the Postal
Service to issue a Virginia Apgar commemorative stamp.
     Dr. Butterfield (who was only 72) had a heart attack, and upped and
died.  I don't think it was because of Allan's comments at the DSNA meeting...

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NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN...

     I've been going through Gregory Titelman's RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF
POPULAR PROVERBS & SAYINGS to see what other ones I can correct.  The only
ones that are solid are from Shakespeare or the bible.
     This is from pg. 256:

_Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country._  At
first glance, this appears to be a call to patriots to help their country in
time of need.  However, it actually originated in the United States in 1867
as a practice exercise for aspiring typists in Weller's _Typing Test_.

     How cynical!
     It's actually a paraphrase of the speech that David S. Coddington gave
during the Civil War, on 15 July 1862, at Union Square in New York City.
This is from the Making of America database:

     Now is the time for white kids to redeem themselves.  Now is the time
for all that army of fashionable loungers who have been growling all their
lives for lack of opportunity.  Now is the time for them to rise, strike and
be immortal.

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YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT!

     I corrected Titelman's work on "Believe it or not."  This is from pg.
380:

_You better believe it._  Yes, absolutely.  The saying originated in America
in the mid-1880s.  _You'd better believe it_ is a variant.  It is listed in
the 1995 _NTC's Dictionary of American English Phrases_ by Richard A.
Spears.***** (Most frequent use, highest score--ed.)

     The Making of America database has "You'd better believe it" in VANITY
FAIR, 1 September 1860, pg. 111.