Happy Hour; Amber Alert; Koming; Dialect Books

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sat, Aug 03, 2002 at 01:56:09PM -0400, Laurence Horn wrote:
> At 6:33 PM -0400 8/2/02, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> >HAPPY HOUR
> >
> >I don't have happy hours.
> >--"Since I Don't Have You" (song)
> >
> >   OED has "happy hour" from 1961.  The above song, by the Skyliners, is
> >   from
> >1958?
>
> Yes, but when they sang
>
> I don't have fond desires
> And I don't have happy hours
> (Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah) I don't have anything
> Since I don't have you-u-u-u
>
> I'm pretty sure the lead singer (James Beaumont) wasn't bemoaning the
> absence in his life of  'a period of time (usu. in the early evening)
> during which drinks are served in a bar, etc., at
> reduced prices, or when free hors-d'uvres are available'.  The
> Skyliners' "happy hours" were no more a lexical item than were their
> "fond desires", "plans and schemes", "hopes and dreams" et al.
> Not that I'm endorsing 1961 as a first cite, but the Skyliners don't unseat
> it.

Also, HDAS has '59. I'm sure that's too late also, given that the naval
sense is from 1920, but I haven't looked at this in a number of years.

Jesse Sheidlower