"It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it"

[Jonathan Lighter]

This passage from a popular Flynn / Reagan film may have contributed to the saying:

_Desperate Journey_ (Raoul Walsh, 1942) : "[JED FORREST, RCAF (Arthur Kennedy).]
I didn't get into this war for fun, or adventure, or because it was expected of me.  I got in because it was a hard, dirty job that has to be done before I can go back to doing what I liked - before a hundred million other people can get back to doing what they liked. It's no bright game to me. It's a job - a job that has to be done as rapidly and efficiently as possible."

Quoted in Thomas Doherty, _Projections of War_ (N.Y.: Columbia U.P., 1993), p. 107.

JL

bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: bapopik at AOL.COM
Subject: "It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it"
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Where does this come from?
...
...
(BLOG, discussing Manhattan Borough President's race)
Eduwonk has taken on the task of being Moskowitz?s apologist on the Internet, so you can read all of her ex post facto justifications for her poor showing there. [It?s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, and Eduwonk seems constitutionally unable these days to exercise even minimal balance and perspective on matters involving teacher unions, so it seems like he is the man for the position.]



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