newly-wed(s) and nearly-dead(s)

[Sam Clements]

By searching within the Google book hit for _New Zealand Railways Magazine_
for "May," you can see that it was the issue of 1 May 1932.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 10:10
Subject: newly-wed(s) and nearly-dead(s)


> There's a new cite on the Double-Tongued Dictionary for "the newlywed and
> the nearly dead" (referring to San Antonio):
>
> http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/newlywed_and_the_nearly_dead_1/
>
> I've heard this epithet used in various parts of the U.S. (and Canada
> too --
> in Victoria, B.C.). Here are some early cites (first one is snippet view,
> so
> not verifiable):
>
> ---
> 1932? _New Zealand Railways Magazine_ Even in modern times the mystery
> meal
> is not uncommon among newly-weds and nearly-deads.
> http://books.google.com/books?id=xctEAAAAIAAJ [snippet]
> ---
> 1940 _Hartford Courant_ 21 Apr. 16/4 At the swanky Royal Hawaiian they
> like
> to say that the Halekulani is peopled by newlyweds and nearly-deads.
> ---
> 1947 Cleveland Amory _The Proper Bostonians_ 351 Brookline's Longwood
> Towers, familiarly known as the home of the newly wed and the nearly dead.
> ---
> 1949 Ralph Hancock _Fabulous Boulevard_ 149 Los Angeles is either a harlot
> or a virgin. ... It's either a God forsaken desert or a garden of Eden --
> filled with newlyweds or nearly-deads.
> ---
> 1952 _New York Times_ 23 Mar. (Book Review) 20/1 Nowadays, during winters
> among the newlyweds and nearly-deads in St- Augustine, he is seldom
> reminded
> of his once "nation-wide famousness."
> ---
> 1964 _Western Folklore_ 23(3) July 191 Santa Barbara has long been known
> by
> younger people living there as "the home of the newly~wed and nearly
> dead,"
> a reference to the fact that the city is a favorite for honeymoons and
> retirements.
> ---
>
> Sometimes also with "overfed(s)":
>
> ---
> 1950? _Youth Leaders Digest_ She summed up her impressions of some of the
> folks she met with the remark that they were "newlyweds, overfeds or
> nearly
> deads."
> http://books.google.com/books?id=bd4DAAAAMAAJ [snippet]
> ---
> 1965 _Newport (R.I.) Daily News_ 5 Oct. "No," she said. "Nobody here but
> newly~weds, nearly deads and over~feds." [quoting a waitress at the resort
> village of Tadasausoc, Quebec]
> ---
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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