for catchphrase/snowclone fans

[Arnold Zwicky]

from Ralph Keyes, _I Love It When You Talk Retro_ (NY: St. Martin's,
2008), p. 62:

When the _San Francisco Chronicle_ send an older reporter to cover [a
1964 UC Berkeley protest], [24-year-old protestor] Jack Weinberg
needled him by commenting, "We have a saying in the movement that you
can't trust anyone over thirty." Weinberg himself made up the adage.
It quickly became  a youth movement credo. As baby boomers got further
and further away from their third decade of life, *You can't trust
anyone* [underline] fill in the blank [end underline] became a
multipurpose catchphrase.
....

the Weinberg attribution is given in Keyes's 2006 book on quotations,
and also in the Constitutional Rights Foundation's account of the Free
Speech Movement:

http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-16-3-a.html

(Fred Shapiro: what do you have?  i'm away from this part of my
library at the moment.)

there are tons of hits for {"you can't trust anyone"}, but it's hard
to tell which of these are literal assertions and which are echoes of
the "over thirty" version. some examples:

You Can't Trust Anyone In Law School
You can't trust anyone nowadays
You can't trust anyone in marketing
Scientists, priests, you can't trust anyone anymore
You can't trust anyone on house prices
You Can't Trust Anyone In A Position Of Authority In The Bankruptcy Or
Debt Consolidation Field!
*I have always said you can't trust anyone under 30 for a long time.
But 36 works equally well for me.
Since we see problems with trust in every area, from families to banks
to doctors, it shouldn't be surprising that you can't trust anyone in
business.
You can't trust anyone from TEH iNTERET!!
You can't trust anyone here in touristy areas.
  You can't trust anyone within prison and that is often rule number
one.
  i learned today you can't trust anyone over the phone, ...

this is a sampling from the first 200 hits. not at all impressive. the
asterisked one is the only clear echo of the 60s slogan, and it's just
a slight variant.

i'm beginning to wonder just how often the slogan actually got used by
ordinary speakers, written on posters, etc., as opposed to being
quoted in the media.

arnold

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