"When you want to marry a prince...."

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 8/12/07, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
>         The earliest example of the saying I see is in the Boston Globe
> for 7/26/1981 (via Westlaw):  "just a badge with a picture of Lady Diana
> and the caption, "I had to kiss a lot of frogs.""

1976 _Daily Northwestern_ (Oshkosh, Wisc.) 23 Oct. 9/6 "You kiss a lot
of frogs before you meet a prince," said one woman.

Newspaperarchive has several other cites from the late '70s.

--Ben Zimmer


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 8:09 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "When you want to marry a prince...."
>
> "When you want to marry a Prince, you will have to kiss a lot of frogs."
>
>   I first encountered this now-popular saying on a Valentine's Day card
> between 20 and 25 years ago. The wording, as I recall, was slightly
> different, something like, "Before you find your Prince, you have to
> kiss a lot of frogs."  The girl I gave it to disagreed.
>
>   According to Franchesca Ho Sang's _The Wisdom of Frogs_ (Irvington,
> N.Y.: Hylas, 2006), certainly the definitive brief treatment of its
> declared subject, the saying is in reality a "Dutch Proverb."
>
>   Should I believe this?
>
>   JL
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org