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

[Alice Faber]

Dennis R. Preston wrote:
> And the last''s euphemistic "tough tea-bags."
>
> dInIs
>
>>> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> sez:
>>>
>>>>>>
>>>  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.)
>>>  <<<
>>>
>>> Also "tough sh*t", at least in the 60s.
>>>
>> And its alliterative counterpart, "tough titties".
>>
>> L
>

When I was in middle school (mid 1960s) the regular euphemism (of
course, I didn't know that then) was "tough toenails", usually in the
phrase "tough toenails; you grew'em, you chew'em".

--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
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