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

[Dennis R. Preston]

In looking back over this "discussion," I now find that "tough
titties" sounds very odd to me in the plural. I'm pretty sure us
Louisvillians (Lousvillains?) of the 50's had just "tough titty."

Middle schoolers chewing their toenails is, however, a pleasant image
for the morning after the 4th.

dInIs



>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".
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
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Michigan State University
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