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

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:23 AM -0700 7/5/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>This sounds like a paradox.  What can be good about tough luck?
>
>JL

Indeed, unlike the milk, the tough titties *aren't* good--whence the
*but* and the *still*.

As far as the titration question, I think I recall hearing both
(although not the...ditty) way back when.  Current plebiscite yields
"tough titty" over "tough titties" in a reasonably competitive
contest, 6440 to 4890.

L

>
>"Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
>Subject: Re: antedatings: "tough luck," "oohs and ahs"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>  And its alliterative counterpart, "tough titties".
>>
>Extended version, from Nashville, TN, ca 1972: "Tough titty, said the
>kitty, but the milk's still good."
>
>
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