"Fat Lady Sings" in Dallas Morning News

[Fred Shapiro]

Here's a big quotational antedating from the Dallas Morning News archives,
two years earlier than the first use in the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs:

Despite his obvious allegiance to the Red Raiders, Texas Tech sports
information director Ralph Carpenter was the picture of professional
objectivity when the Aggies rallied for a 72-72 tie late in the SWC
tournament finals.  "Hey, Ralph," said Bill Morgan, "this Morgan, the
league information director, is going to be a tight one after all."
"Right," said Ralph, "The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings."
        Dallas Morning News, March 10, 1976, section B, page 2

This citation calls into question the usual attribution of the phrase to
Dan Cook, since the earliest Cook evidence is 1976.  (It may well be,
however, that the true origin lies in Southern proverbial lore; I have
previously discovered "Church ain't out 'till the fat lady sings" in a
1976 booklet, _Southern Words and Sayings_.)

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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