The twelfth of never

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:17 PM -0400 9/22/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
>So, no evidence comes to light that "the twelfth of never" was
>proverbial prior to its use in the 1957 song.  (Incidentally, there
>have occurred, more recently, scattered instances of the
>alliterating "ninth of never" and other dates of that month--as well
>as such expressions as "half-past hell freezes over").
>
>However, the phrase does belong to a recognized "folk" pattern
>discussed at length by the great paremiologist Archer Taylor:
>"Locutions for 'Never,'" Romance Philology 2 (1949): 103-34.  Such
>expressions as "at four o'clock next summer," "at next Never's tide
>(or Nevermass)," "auf Maienostern" (Easter never falls in May).
>
>--Charlie

Isn't the earliest instance of this practice the Latin expression "ad
kalendas Graecas", i.e. 'at the Greek kalends'?  This was a "12th of
Never" of their own, since the Greeks didn't reckon with kalends
(calends), which were the first days of each month on the Roman
calendar.

(The "Greek calends" were thus a bit like the "Welsh rabbit" or
"Irish apricot" of threads of yore, an example of what I was trying
to dub "ironym"--except that instead of referring to something else
it refers to nothing)

LH

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