"REARRANGING DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC"

[Stephen Goranson]

Perhaps another 1969 (?) use. Google book snippet view gives from
Reports of the
Tax Court of the United States "1969" page 606:
... ?than the proverbial rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. As a
result, we conclude that petitioners did not actually receive direct benefits
...
Possibly a point in favor of the 1969 (or earlier?) date is that the serial
title ended in 1969. From 1970ff the title was Reports of the United
States Tax
Court.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu


Quoting "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>:

> Slightly earlier:
>
> "Future Role of Church Weighed" by James A Haught, _Charleston [WV]
> Gazette_, 12-29-1969, p. 11 col 1.
> "One clergyman has been quoted as saying the numerous reforms taking
> place today are only "shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic." "
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Fred Shapiro
> Sent: Sun 5/20/2007 10:46 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "REARRANGING DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC"
>
>
>
>
>
> Here's earlier evidence than what is in The Yale Book of Quotations and
> other sources:
>
> Unless this gap is narrowed, all of the liberal reforms of recent years could
> be, as one Protestant official put it recently, "like switching deck
> chairs on
> the Titanic."
>        Edward B. Fiske, "Secular Issues Split Churches," Fresno Bee, Apr. 5,
> 1970, p. 5-C
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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