Antedating of "Wellerism"

[Fred Shapiro]

Wellerism (OED 1839)

1838 _Macon Telegraph_ 2 Oct. 2 (America's Historical Newspapers)
_Professional Wellerisms_ -- You are a wery nice man; tisnt every day we
see the likes of you, as the heditor said to his subscriber, who called at
the office to pay his subscription in hadvance.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
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