"Be careful what you wish for" (1976)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 00:33:07 -0400, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR--166,000 Google hits, 44,500 Google Groups
>hits
>...
>...
>How can there be so many hits, and this only goes back to 1976??

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Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1954, p. B5
"Nowadays," Mary told me once, not joking at all, "I'm careful what I wish
for because it has a way of coming along, and sometimes it isn't worth the
price."
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Washington Post, Nov 19, 1954, p. 75
Miss Gish also advises "be careful what you wish for, you'll probably get
it."
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--Ben Zimmer