"I must, I must, I must increase my bust" (1970)

[Wilson Gray]

On Jan 4, 2005, at 10:40 PM, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      "I must, I must, I must increase my bust" (1970)
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> --------
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> I MUST INCREASE MY BUST--688 Google hits, 299 Google Groups hits

FWIW, my wife remembers this chant from early in her adolescence,
ca.1958, in Kingston, a town in the Wyoming Valley region of NE Penna.

-Wilson Gray

> ...
> Ben Zimmer is doing "must-see," but he leaves out another "must."
> Gotta  keep
> Fred Shapiro abreast of these things. Is this from the late
> 1960s?..Nowadays, of course, people don't chant this and do stretching
> exercises  to increase
> bust size. Alas.
> ...
> ...
> (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
> _The  Young Teen Scene_
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=0&did=90628448&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=3
> 09&VName=HNP&TS=1104895579&cl
> ientId=65882)
> By DOROTHY BRODERICK. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York,
> N.Y.: Nov
> 8,  1970. p. 325 (3 pages)
> Third page:
> The best book of the seven and a good book by any terms, is _ARE YOU
> THERE
> GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET_ by Judy Blume (Bradbury, $4.50). (...) The
> chant, "I
> must--I must--I must increase my bust!" accompanied by the appropriate
> exercises  will evoke in older females memories of similar
> experiences.
>