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[James A. Landau]

Probably a waste of good e-space, but here goes:

In a message dated > Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:59:02 -0400,  Fred Shapiro <
> fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> writes:
>
> ...here are nine sayings for which I would be interested in
> whether Ancestry has anything earlier than the dates indicated:
>
> Not tonight, Josephine (anything before 1911)

Does anyone else hearing this saying immediately think of Josephine
Bonaparte?
>
> May you live in interesting times (anything before 1939)

Frequently cited as "an old Chinese curse"; it might be interesting to see if
such an old Chinese saying actually exists.
>
> Close, but no cigar (anything before 1935)

There is a possibility that Polly Adler used this phrase before 1935.  In her
memoirs _A House Is Not A Home_ (1953) she describes hiding out in the New
York area and reading a newspaper article saying she was in Cuba.  She writes
something to the effect that she was tempted to send a message to that writer
saying "Close but no cigar".

I am under the impression (which could easily be wrong) that this is an old
saying among carnival-goers.  Many carnivals had a game in which the customer
(sucker?) swung a mallet at a lever which flung a metal something at a bell at
the top of a column.  The object was to hit hard enough to get the bell to
ring.  Supposedly the prize for doing this was a cigar.  Hence, "close, but no
cigar".

There is of course the possibly related saying "Close only counts in
horseshoes" and its more dramatic rendering "close only counts in horseshoes and hand
grenades".

                  - James A. Landau