antedatings: "tough luck," "oohs and ahs"

[Wilson Gray]

Jon, in the BE of the '50's, "tough," like "hard" and "bad," was
complimentary. There was a song that began, "She's so tough! That's
why I love her." "Tough luck" was usually rendered as "Tough titty!
(You just have to suck it!), "Tough shit!" or some other, such as "Sad
on you! [saed 'ony@]" or even the sE "Too bad (for you)!"

-Wilson

On 7/2/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: antedatings: "tough luck," "oohs and ahs"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks, Sam.  But nowadays it's more often used sarcastically as an interjection than as a simple synonym for "hard luck." (In the '50s even that had been mostly supplanted by the sarcastic use of "tough!" all by itself.)  Is that what the 1876 ex. is like?
>
> Jon
>
> Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Sam Clements
> Subject: Re: antedatings: "tough luck," "oohs and ahs"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jon,
>
> Proquest yields an 1876 cite fromm the Atlanta Constitution using "tough
> luck" just the way we understand it today.
>
> sam
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan Lighter"
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 9:59 AM
> Subject: antedatings: "tough luck," "oohs and ahs"
>
>
> > Both these come from the novel _Bill Truetell_, by George H. Brennan
> > (Chicago: McClurg, 1909).
> >
> > _tough luck_ (OED 1912) :
> >
> > You've been against a lot of tough luck." (p. 272)
> >
> > _oohs and ahs_ (OED, from a British source, 1930; it doesn't list the
> > form with the spelling "ohs," as here) :
> >
> > "A chorus of 'ohs' and 'ahs' went up from the admiring Fort Bensonians."
> >
> > JL
> >
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--
-Wilson Gray