Inch/Cinch, Yard/Hard (1947); Lie can go around world... (1854)

[Sam Clements]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 4:51 AM
Subject: Inch/Cinch, Yard/Hard (1947); Lie can go around world... (1854)

 ---------------------------------------------------------------
> A LIE CAN GO AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK WHILE THE TRUTH IS LACING UP ITS
> BOOTS
>
>   Titelman has this from 1859, but it's indicated at that time as an "old
> proverb."
>
>
> (WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
> Republican Compiler - 5/29/1854
> ...seven leagues while TRUTH is putting her BOOTS ON, "and the Democratic
> party has found.....United States and the British Provinces, LIE cuiux)
> out by the previous steamer. THIS.....many verificatiONs of this TRUTH in
> tho telegraphic reports of the.....asif to survey, when the baitories
> shots-. ON her and not' ON the truce, boat. ON the 2d..
> Gettysburg, Pennsylvania   Monday, May 29, 1854  1097 k
>
>
> (AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES)
> The Power of the Affirmative.
> Scribner's Monthly (1870-1881). New York: Nov 1872. Vol. VOL. V, Iss. No.
> 1.; p. 118 (2 pages)
> First page:  It is not necessary for truth to worry itself, even if a lie
> can run a league while it is putting on its boots.


A coy young maiden who is a reader of this list but a rather shy poster
sends the following:


Lady X-- Perhaps the "truth/boots" version derives from the following still
earlier
> form.

> From the EARLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS database (1690-1876):
>
> [From The Farmer's Cabinet; 2 February 1808; Vol. VI; Issue 14; Pg. 4.]
>
> "Falsehood," says one, "flies and truth comes limping after it."  If a lie
> be believed sometimes only for an hour, it has accomplished its purpose,
> and
> there is no further occasion for it.
>
>
> [From "Quere," The Commercial Advertiser, 16 March 1804; Issue 1995; Pg.
> 3.]
>
> A few bold lies may have effected their purpose, before truth can overtake
> and defeat them.  Falsehood always flies, but truth frequently goes with a
> limping gait.
>
> From Gale's EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COLLECTIONS ONLINE database:
>
> [From Jonathan Swift's "The Examiner," No. 14, Thursday, 9 November 1710.]
>
> Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it; so that when men
> come
> to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale has had
> its
> effect:  Like a man, who has the thought of a good repartee, when the
> discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath
> found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.
>
> [On Pg. 15 of _The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D: D.S.P.D. with notes
> historical and critical_, by J. Hawkesworth, L.L.D. and others_.
> Edinburgh,
> 1778. 448 pp. Vol. 3 of 18 (18 vols.).]
>