broker than the 10 commandments

[Mullins, Bill]

 THE BACHELOR CYNIC, HE SAYS---
New York Times (1857-Current file); Oct 30, 1904; ProQuest Historical
Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2001)
pg. SM6
"It's hard luck to be on your uppers, but no man would care to be as
completely broke as the Ten Commandments."


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of George Thompson
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 2:52 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: broker than the 10 commandments
>
>> Barry posted on this not long ago, citing a passage from a
> book by Louis Armstrong, as quoted in a review, from 1954.
> Wilson Gray responded that the expression was old and
> familiar, and someone else also responded, but if I read the
> archives correctly no one produced an example from before 1954.
>
> From Leave It to Psmith, by P. G. Wodehouse, originally published in
> 1923:
> [Freddie Threepwood:] "Are you really broke?"
> [Psmith:] "As broke as the Ten Commandments."
> p. 91
>