Joe Bag of Donuts; Flat TV; Lewinsky; Alive & kicking; Ostrich myth

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JOE BAG OF DONUTS

"...as if Joe Bag of Donuts could've handled Gary's poor practice habits..."
--Peter Vecsey NBA column, NEW YORK POST, 17 October 1999, pg. 84, col. 4.

     Joe Bag of Donuts?
     I rather liked John Q. Public.  Joe Six Pack--well, I don't drink six
packs.  Now we have Joe Bag of Donuts.
     A usenet check shows hits only about a year old.  I haven't yet checked
on Nexis.


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FLAT TV

     "Flat tv" shows very recent hits.  A slang term (Anorexic tv?  Ally
McBeal TV?) hasn't yet developed.


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"LEWINSKY" (continued)

    It was a very weak Saturday Night Live last night, but the "Lewinsky"
joke was the best one.  Monica's father complained to NBC about the use of
"Lewinsky," and "he was told to 'George Michael' himself."


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ALIVE & KICKING

"_Alive and Kicking_: The American Ballet Theatre celebrates 60 glorious
years"
--PROMENADE (a free magazine left in ritzy NYC co-ops), October 1999-March
2000, pp. 68-73.

    Christine Ammer's AHDOI has:

_alive and kicking_ ...originally was used by fishmongers hawking their wares
to convince customers of their freshness (Fresh customers?--ed.) and has been
considered a cliche since about 1850.

   Literature Online has Peter Pindar's poetry HAIR POWDER: A PLAINTIVE
EPISTLE TO MR. PITT (1816): "Up, up--who mounts here?--all alive and
kicking."  Most citations are in reference to land animals, not fish.


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OSTRICH MYTH

"They don't bury their heads in the sand."
--South African ostrich farm guy to Traveling Etymologist guy, July 1999

     Just a minute, let me clean this screen with my ostrich-feather
"computer duster."  There now.
     Who started this myth?
     Stevenson has:

Swift, POLITE CONVERSATION, Dial. i. (1738)--She put me in mind of the
woodcock, that strives to hide his long bill, and then thinks nobody sees him.

Carlyle, FRENCH REVOLUTION, vol. 1, bk. i, ch. 4 (1837)--It is the resource
of the Ostrich; who, hard hunted, sticks his foolish head in the ground, and
would fain forget that his foolish unseeing body is not unseen too.

    The early Swift citation is a little surprising--the ostrich feather
craze really started in the 19th century.
    A check of Literature Online shows that the Ostrich is blamed for putting
 _eggs_ in the sand; _head-in-the-sand_ citations start in the 1800s.  George
Colman's (1762-1836) play TURK AND NO TURK (1800?), act 3, scene 1: "your sly
snug man is like an ostrich, who hides his head in a bush, and thinks nobody
can look at his rump."