Queries about "Up and at 'em"

[Baker, John]

        According to YBQ, the attribution to Wellington (in the form "Up
Guards and at them!") goes back to 1815, but Wellington himself denied
having said it.   Although YBQ also suggests that this appears to be the
original of "up and at 'em," it seems entirely possible that the phrase
was around before Waterloo.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Charles Doyle
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 12:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Queries about "Up and at 'em"

LION gives this (I can't find it in EEBO), from Richard Head and Francis
Kirkman's _The English Rogue_ (1671):  ". . . if they, in the Morning,
did fall to drinking again, taking a hair of the Old Dog, then he would
up, and at them again."

I'm not sure that's an actual instance of the saying, though.  How
definitive is imperative mood, or the contracted _'em_?

And why do I find backward apostrophes so annoying??

--Charlie
___________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:02:45 -0800
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: Queries about "Up and at 'em"

>
>The phrase has long been attributed to the Duke of Wellington at
Waterloo in 1815, in the form "Up, Guards, and at 'em !"
>
>  I don't know the ultimate source of this claim.
>
>  JL

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