"Sometimes you eat the bear..." (1904); "Tools of Ignorance"

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I picked up the "bear" version from a buddy, Ivan Sag of the
Stanford CSLI. He may have some knowledge of its origin.

-Wilson Gray

On Jun 3, 2004, at 12:25 AM, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      "Sometimes you eat the bear..." (1904); "Tools of
> Ignorance"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> SOMETIMES YOU EAT THE BEAR, AND SOMETIMES THE BEAR EATS YOU
>   =20
> (ADS-L)
> Sometimes, you eat the bear; sometimes, the bear eats you.
> -Wilson Gray
>        =20
> YOU EAT THE BEAR--1,530 Google hits, 4,870 Google Groups hits
> BEAR EATS YOU--693 Google hits, 2,340 Google Groups hits
>    =20
>    Or, as Carole King used to sing. "sometimes you win, sometimes you
> lose."
>    Where does this come from?  These searches aren't easy.  You can
> replace=20
> "eat" with "hunt" and "get."  It goes back at least 100 years.
>     I don't know about Fred Shapiro's bear collection.
>  =20
>  =20
> (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
> Some Heartbreaks Are Relined
> By JOHN S. RADOSTA Special to The New York Times. New York Times=20
> (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Feb 21, 1973. p. 93 (1 page) :
>    DAYTONE BEACH, Fla., Feb. 28--"Some days you eat the bear," Bobby
> Allison=
> =20
> was saying, "and some days the bear eats you. "
>      =20
> Hunting: Some Days You Eat the Bear, Some Days --
> BY ANGUS PHILLIPS. The Washington Post (1974-Current file).
> Washington, D.C.=
> :=20
> Dec 7, 1979. p. W45 (1 page)   =20
>      =20
>       =20
> (WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
> Indiana Democrat - 12/14/1904  =20
> ...SOMETIMES you bunt THE BEAR, and SOMETIMES THE BEAR hunts you and
> oace=20
> in.....him rope and turned off sideways. THE BEAR went to THE end of
> THE for=
> ty=20
> foot..
> Indiana, Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 14, 1904  828 k  =20
>       =20
> New Oxford Item - 1/13/1905    =20
> ...SOMETIMES you hunt THE BEAR, and SOMETIMES THE BEAR hunts and once
> in=20
> a.....At one end of THE cabin a brown BEAR paced ceaselessly to and
> fro with=
> ..
> New Oxford, Pennsylvania Friday, January 13, 1905  619 k   =20
>     =20
> Walla Walla Union Bulletin - 5/31/1976 =20
> ...later put it, "SOMETIMES THE BEAR eats you and SOMETIMES you eat THE
> .....and he would have come out-loaded for BEAR. It would have been a
> heck o=
> f a..
> Walla Walla, Washington Monday, May 31, 1976  651 k    =20
>       =20
> Lincoln Star - 5/31/1976   =20
> ...Indy INDIANAPOLIS (AP) "SOMETIMES THE BEAR eats you and SOMETIMES
> you eat=
> =20
> THE.....That's just THE way things work out SOMETIMES. "I feel sorry
> for A.=20
> J., but..
> Lincoln, Nebraska Monday, May 31, 1976  599 k      =20
>     =20
> Frederick Post - 5/14/1984 =20
> ...YOU eat the BEAR, and sometimes the BEAR EATS YOU." Storm Davis,=20
> 3-0.....Knights finished no lower than fifth. "YOU've got to have the
> number=
> s in=20
> order..
> Frederick, Maryland Monday, May 14, 1984  766 k    =20
>         =20
> Mountain Democrat - 7/28/1989  =20
> ...SOMETIMES you eat THE BEAR, and SOMETIMES THE BEAR eats you. THE
> BEAR
> .....see THE shots people take on TV, and SOMETIMES it's tough to get
> up fro=
> m..
> Placerville, California Friday, July 28, 1989  516 k   =20
>     =20
> Chronicle Telegram - 12/12/1994    =20
> ...year, SOMETIMES you eat THE BEAR, and SOMETIMES THE BEAR eats you.
> Today,=
> =20
> THE.....THE Oilers. After taking THE brunt of THE criticism for THE
> loss=20
> against THE..
> Elyria, Ohio Monday, December 12, 1994  663 k      =20
>         =20
> Mountain Democrat - 9/12/1997  =20
> ...HILLS SOME DAYS you eat THE BEAR SOME DAYS THE BEAR eats you.
> Monday THE=20
> Oak.....THE truth. It is true that THEre are SOME really fast runners
> out TH=
> Ere=20
> who..
> Placerville, California Friday, September 12, 1997  526 k  =20
>  =20
> Wellsboro Gazette - 5/26/1999  =20
> ...SOMETIMES you get THE BEAR, and SOMETIMES THE BEAR gets Mansfield=20
> coach.....one hit." THE only hit of THE game for THE Tigers came in
> THE bott=
> om of THE
> ..
> Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Wednesday, May 26, 1999  509 k     =20
>     =20
> Gettysburg Times - 2/3/2003    =20
> ...win. "SOMETIMES you eat THE BEAR and SOMETIMES THE BEAR eats said=20
> Hefner.....cut THE lead to 59-56 with left. Dana BEAR hit a runner in
> THE la=
> ne and THE
> ..
>
> Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Monday, February 03, 2003  711 k      =20
>      =20
>    =20
> (GOOGLE GROUPS)
> From: David Clasky (dclasky at mail.mia.hellsouth.net)
> Subject: "...eat the bear..."=20
> This is the only article in this thread    =20
> View: Original Format  =20
> Newsgroups: alt.quotations
> Date: 1997/06/05=20
>    =20
> In my signature file the quote "Sometimes you eat the bear, and
> sometimes th=
> e=20
> bear eats you" is attributed to William Faulkner.  Many people have
> told me=20
> that the quote is from someone else, and they have given theories
> ranging fr=
> om=20
> Joan Armatrading to Star Trek!  I've also heard it attributed to
> Stephen=20
> Stills.  I originally heard it from my father, who heard it from a
> drill ser=
> geant=20
> in the army in 1956.  Thedrill sergeant never attributed it to anyone.
>  Does=
> =20
> anyone out there know who said this?  Thanks.
>
> DC--=20
> ********************************************************"
> Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eatsyou." -
> William=20
> Faulkner
>  =20
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----=
> --
> ---------------------------------------------
> TOOLS OF IGNORANCE
>  =20
>    I was going through Grant Barrett's wonderful site (a food word
> posted=20
> today is one that I'd previously posted here on ADS-L).  I like the
> term "to=
> ols=20
> of ignorance," but I can't beat the 1936 Newspaperarchive hit.
>  =20
>  =20
> http://www.doubletongued.org
> tools of ignorance n. a baseball catcher=E2=80=99s mask, shin guards,
> and ch=
> est=20
> padding.=20
> 1936 Arcadia Tribune (Calif.) (May 2) =E2=80=9CBreadmen to Face
> Locals=E2=
> =80=9D p. 1: Leroy=20
> Zimmerman, star local high school graduate, will perform on the mound
> for th=
> e=20
> Corpe squad with Max Purcell donning the tools of ignorance to handle
> his=20
> slants. 2003 Vince Staten Why Is The Foul Pole Fair? (Apr. 1) p. 266:
> Bresna=
> han=E2=80=99s=20
> shin guards were the final pieces of the =E2=80=9Ctools of
> ignorance,=E2=80=
> =9D that great=20
> descriptive phrase for the catcher=E2=80=99s equipment. There are
> conflictin=
> g stories=20
> about who came up with that wonderful monker: Some sources credit
> Herold=20=
> =E2=80=9CMuddy=E2=80=9D=20
> Ruel, a Senators catcher who caught for Walter Johnson and later
> became a=20
> lawyer. The more likely=E2=80=94and earlier=E2=80=94story, from the
> =E2=80=
> =9CDiamond Jargon=E2=80=9D column in=20
> the August 1939 issue of Baseball Magazine accepts Yankee catcher Bill
> Dicke=
> y=20
> as the true author. Dickey supposedly coined the term while donning
> his gear=
> =20
> and brooding over why anyone would want to be a catcher in July heat.
> I like=
> =20
> the Dickey story because it was published sixteen years before the
> Ruel clai=
> m.=20
> 2004 [White] toolsOfIgnorance (Monrovia, Calif.) (May 14)
> =E2=80=9CHowdy=E2=
> =80=9D: The term =E2=80=9C
> tools of ignorance=E2=80=9D is my 2nd favorite baseball
> colloquialism.=20
>
>  =20
> (WWW.PAPEROFRECORD.COM)
>    8 August 1940, THE  SPORTING NEWS, pg. 2, col. 1:
>   So, on his own suggestion, James Emory Foxx, the finest all-round
> player i=
> n=20
> baseball, donned the "tools of ignorance," as players refer to the
> chest=20
> protector, mask and big mitt, on July 31, and became first-string
> catcher of=
>  the=20
> Red Sox.
>  =20
>    6 April 1944, THE SPORTING NEWS, pg. 3, col. 1:
>    "Players call the catcher's armor the 'tools of ignorance,'"
> Ferrell=20
> continued.  "Outfielders contend that no one in their senses would
> clutter=20
> themselves up with a mask, a heavy chest protector and weigh down
> their legs=
>  with shin=20
> guards.  All of this when the mercury is trying to climb out of the
> top of=20
> the tube, and those outfielders are on vacation, waiting for something
> to=20
> happen."
>
>  =20
> (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
> THE SPORTS X-RAY
> BOB RAY. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.:
> Mar 27,=
> =20
> 1937. p. A11 (1 page) :
>    Ball players call a catcher's paraphernalia "the tools of
> ignorance." =20
> Supposition is that a guy must be ignoranct ever to tackle such a
> tough job=20=
> as=20
> catching.
>