"Take This Job and Shove It"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Surely "take X and shove/stick it ..." is much older. Of course a leading
candidate for "X" is one's annoying job. So even if it never appeared in
print, one can be absolutely sure that there were many many instances of
the expression in question well before 1977.

Of course such expressions did appear in print. I can't find the exact
wording right now but e.g. "take the job and shove it" can be found at
Google Books from 1949, 1945, and 1916 [last date might be erroneous].

"Take it and stick it" I remember well from a joke in Kornbluth's "The
Marching Morons" (1951).

Google Books shows "tell the captain to take this god-damn job and stick it
up his ..." from 1950.

N'archive has "You tell Gen. Walker to take his job and shove it" from 1969
("Pacific Stars and Stripes").

I don't know why one would want the exact wording with "this job", but I
think it probably exists in print from the 1940's or earlier.

-- Doug Wilson


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