"Going, Going, Gone"

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 8, 2005, at 11:54 AM, Baker, John wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Going, Going, Gone"
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>         It goes back at least to the first quarter of the 19th century,
> probably quite a bit earlier.  From  "To Harriet," dated January 1,
> 1825, in Samuel Woodworth, Melodies, Duets, Trios, Songs, and Ballads
> 234, 237 (copyright 1826, printed 1831) (via Making of America):
>
> <<My sage companion tottered on,
> Exclaiming--"Going!--going!--gone!
> A YEAR, in months, or weeks, _for sale!_
> Who bids for part, or all the bale!
> What for an hour?---or twenty-four?
> With privilege of taking more!
> Who bids!--the sale's without reserve,
> And none must from the contract swerve.">>
>
>         The speaker is Father Time (or, as the poet puts it, father
> TIME).  So, by no later than 1826, "going, going, gone" and other
> standard auction terms, such as "without reserve," were familiar enough
> to be used in light poetry.  That argues that they have been in use for
> at least a generation, perhaps several generations.  I await the
> further
> antedatings.
>
>         Incidentally, in the auctions of my childhood (and they were
> and
> continue to be quite common in southern Kentucky), although "going,
> going, gone" was familiar to me, I believe that "going once, going
> twice, sold" may have been more common.
>
> John Baker

  _Lucky Strike_ radio commercials used two different auctioneers, but
they both ended their chants with "Sold, American!" "Sold, Ah
Meri-cun!" was used by the one guy and the other guy used simply a
monotonic "Sold, American!" I was never able to understand any other
part of the chant of either auctioneer, but, FWIW, the use of the word
"sold" implies that it was preceded by "Going once! Going twice!"

-Wilson Gray

>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf
> Of Fred Shapiro
> Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 11:03 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "Going, Going, Gone"
>
> Question for Barry, Ben, Bill, etc.:  How far back can we trace the
> auctioneer's call "going, going, gone"?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
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> Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF
> QUOTATIONS
>   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
> Yale Law School                             forthcoming
> e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
> http://quotationdictionary.com
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