"If it harelips X"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The Southern (esp. Texan) expression "If it harelips X" has been discussed
in a 1998 Random House Maven entry, a 2003 ADS-L thread, and a Jan. '05
Wordorigins thread:

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980625
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0302A&L=ADS-L&P=3253
http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm17.showMessage?topicID=462.topic

It's not in OED or HDAS, though DARE has "harelip the government, ~ the
governor, ~ hell, ~ every mule in Texas, ~ all the hogs in Texas." No
doubt the most famous usage is the line in _Dr. Strangelove_ by Slim
Pickens as Major "King" Kong: "I'm gonna get them doors open if it
harelips everybody on Bear Creek." Pickens, a onetime rodeo cowboy from
California's Central Valley, came up with the line himself, according to
an interview he did when the movie came out:

-----
1964 _Oakland Tribune_ 30 Jan. 18/3 "He [sc. Stanley Kubrick] will change
the lines around 'til they sound right to him. One time he says to me,
'Slim, what would a cowboy say instead of "I'll do it if it kills me?"'
Well, I remembered this fella I used to know in rodeoin', and he would
say, 'I'll do it if it harelips everybody in Bear Creek.' Stanley liked
that line, so we used it in the movie."
-----

DARE has the expression from 1960 (with other sources claiming it was used
earlier in the century). Here are three cites from the '50s:

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1951 _Newport (R.I.) Daily News_ 2 Jun. 6/4 Do you like to collect
old-fashioned sayings? I do, because they have a down to earth freshness
that never stales. Here's my current favorite: "I'll do it — yes, I'll go
ahead and do it even if it harelips the whole family."
[syndicated column by Hal Boyle of the Associated Press]
-----
1954 _Van Wert (Ohio) Times Bulletin_ 15 Feb. 4/8 If it hare~lipped me and
all my folks, I had to do it!
["The Doctor Disagrees" by Elizabeth Seifert, King Features Syndicate]
-----
1959 _N.Y. Times_ 22 Nov. (Book Review) 71/2 H.B.A. writes: "Can anyone
identify the origin of the following expression: 'If it harelips the
queen'? It is used to connote the ultimate in resistance to a desired
action. For example, I might say, 'I will find the source of this
expression if it harelips the queen.'"
-----

I see Doug Wilson already beat me to the 1951 cite in the Wordorigins thread.


--Ben Zimmer