"Nothing to lose"

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:44 PM -0700 9/30/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>But my way's better.
>
>   JL

I wouldn't mess with that Kristoffersen fellow.  He looks like he
wouldn't mess with easily.

LH

>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: "Nothing to lose"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>Like, there's only one possible outcome that can foil your try, and
>>that's "failure." So you got, like, just one way to lose but X ways
>>to win, if you follow me. So the odds are way on your side, dude!
>>
>>  Reminds me of, "Freedom's just another name
>
>another *word* (as I'm sure Fred's compendium will verify)
>
>>  for nothin' left to lose."
>>
>>  Say what?
>>
>>  JL
>>
>>Wilson Gray wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Wilson Gray
>>Subject: "Nothing to lose"
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>
>>"... [T]here was _nothing to lose_."
>>
>>The usual way of expressing this concept in Saint Louis BE is:
>>
>>"Nothing beats a try but a failure."
>>
>>For some reason, this has always messed with my mind, since the
>>"obvious" interpretation is that "a failure beats a try," a statement
>>whose truth is undeniable. Yet, the saying is always used and
>>understood as though it meant, "There's nothing to lose." And, when
>>you think about it, it *does* mean that! If you don't try, the only
>>possible outcome is failure, whereas, if you try, you may succeed or
>>you may fail. But, if you fail, it matters not (oddly, using "it
>>doesn't matter" was most unhip in the Saint Louis of my youth),
>>because, in any case, _there was nothing to lose_.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>--
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>-Sam'l Clemens
>>
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