Mighty white of you-1916

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:30:37 -0500, Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
wrote:

>I couln't find that we had done this in the archive.  Maybe I did it at
Straight Dope.
>
>Using Proquest,  6 Aug. 1916, _Chicago Tribune_ pg A1 col. 3
>
><<To The Tribune: It was mighty white of you to assis me in finding my
brother, Ted Newman, by inserting notice of Aug. 2 in The Tribune,....>>

There's an OED2 cite for "this is white of you" from 1913 (Edith Wharton's
_The Custom of the Country_).  And here's another variant from 1893:

        "It's deuced white of you, Vertner," said Philip, with
        gloomy gratitude.
        "Benefits Forgot" by Wolcott Balestier, p. 773
        The Century, Volume 45, Issue 5, Mar 1893
        http://tinyurl.com/46dj8


--Ben Zimmer