"Tell It Like It Is"

[Baker, John]

        There is a pre-1966 example in Lewis v. State, 183 Miss. 192,
184 So. 53, 55 (1938).  The context is a father questioning his
eight-year-old daughter about what turned out to be a sexual encounter,
subsequently prosecuted as statutory rape.  His evidence was transcribed
as follows, though it seems to me that the court reporter was uncertain
of the extent to which the witness was directly quoting himself:

        "I said, 'come on and tell me what kind of playing you done and
how come him to show you the salve and ___' Tell it like it is?"


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Brenda Lester
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 6:05 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Tell It Like It Is"

Fred,

  The rhythm and blues classic, "Tell It Like It Is" came out in 1966,
but I'm sure the phrase was around long before that.

  bl



"Shapiro, Fred" <Fred.Shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Shapiro, Fred"
Subject: "Tell It Like It Is"
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Can anyone illuminate the origins of the phrase "tell it like it is"?
Wikipedia says Howard Cosell had a catchphrase, "I'm just telling it
like it is," but I am not sure how that fits in to the history of the
expression.

Fred Shapiro

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