Antedating of "Been There, Done That" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

I don't whether this matters to the current thread, but as Fred's cite
suggests, IME, the bare BTDT is a lot older than the
BTDT-bought-the-T-shirt version, which has which has always struck me
as somewhat phoney, since "bought the T-shirt" pretty much restricts
the saying to rock shows, as opposed to extending it to life in
general.

-Wilson

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Been There, Done That" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>>
>> But what about "BT, DT, bought/got the t-shirt"?
>>
>> "Kids will be kids . . . even when they're actors"
>> Toronto Star, The (Ontario, Canada) - May 14, 1993 p.C1
>> Author: Rita Zekas
>> "Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. "
>>
>> "Bickerstaff's job far from complete"
>> Mark Kiszla. Denver Post. Denver, Colo.: Apr 23, 1995. pg. B.01
>>
>> "But Mutombo has been there, done that, bought the T-shirt."
>>
>> "A watery tale of blues, boats and bacon butties - Freud on Friday"
>> Times, The (London, England) - March 26, 1993  p. 40
>> Author: Clement Freud
>>
>> "In the front of the press launch stood photographers carrying huge
>> lenses; at the rear, wrapped against the elements, sat the elders,
>> knowledgeable men who had been there, done that, got the T-shirts. "
> [snip]
>
> The OED entry for "there' (April 2001 draft additions) has:
>
> 1991 Ski Surv. (BNC) Feb., Knee Injuries. Rosemary Burns has been
> there, done that and got the T-shirt. She gives fellow sufferers her
> sympathy and sound advice.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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