The twelfth of never

[Charles Doyle]

In the 15th-century ms. of the so-called "Riddle Song," it's a DOVE withouten any bone.  That was before boneless chickens became popular.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:51:24 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: The twelfth of never
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>My wife made me quit dating, so I'm not that kind of colleague.  But I do know that "the twelfth of never" is not a phrase in "The Riddle Song," as it's often called.  AFAIK, the phrase originated in the pop song.
>
>  I have a friend who uses it relatively frequently, and he concurs.
>
>  JL

>
>Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Wilson Gray
>Subject: Re: The twelfth of never
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The tune perhaps did. There's a folksong with the line, among others, "I gave my love a chicken without any bone," a line that I remember because of the double-entendre. However, I can't remember whether the folksong contains the phrase, "twelfth of never."
>
>OTOH, I could have it bass-ackwards, since I heard the pop song a couple of years or more before I heard the folksong. I.e., the supposed folksong could very well be based on the pop song and not the other way around, for all that I know.
>
>BTW, I appreciate your use of "dating colleagues" instead of the more accurate, in my case, at least, "_dated_ colleagues." ;-)
>
>-Wilson

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