"Read My Lips"

Shapiro, Fred Fred.Shapiro at YALE.EDU
Fri Jan 4 02:16:10 UTC 2008


In The Yale Book of Quotations I say that the expression "read my lips" appears in the Clint Eastwood film, Magnum Force (1973) (and also earlier as the title of a 1957 song by Joe Greene).  Now, however, I am wondering whether "read my lips" does actually appear in Magnum Force; I am not sure that my sources for that assertion were reliable.  Can anyone confirm or disconfirm the Magnum Force usage?  Jesse, did the OED check this out for its forthcoming entry on "read my lips"?  Also, did the OED accept the 1957 song usage?  Is there any still earlier usage that was found?

Fred Shapiro

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