"Tell It Like It Is"

[Wilson Gray]

"Tell it like is is?" Used as a question? But 1938 is *very* early,
even for me. It may very well have appeared in questions, in those
days. Indeed, it may even has been used in ordinary speech and not as
a slang term, at one time. Who's to say?

-Wilson

On Feb 17, 2008 7:12 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Tell It Like It Is"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>         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"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
>
> 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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