for catchphrase/snowclone fans

[Victor]

I _have_ heard it from real people, but usually in a particular context.
It's been used in a number of films, usually somewhat sarcastically. I
can't name any of them, at the moment, but I'll be sure to post it next
time I hear it. For now, I'll stick to anecdotal evidence (mercifully,
this is not a "hard science").

There are two basic "theories" associated with this catchphrase. First,
the joke among then-activists is that the phrase kept growing with them.
So, in the seventies it became, "You can't trust anyone over forty",
then, "You can't trust anyone over fifty", and, by now, "You can't trust
anyone over eighty." The second was actually the reverse--that the
subsequent generations lowered the threshold. So the phrase became, "You
can't trust anyone over twenty" (with the Breakfast Club generation),
and, at this point, the cut-off is sixteen. And, yes, I've heard
comments to this effect from "real" people, not the media. Of course,
none of this would be in print.

A particular flashpoint for the original phrase was in the early and
mid-1990s, when the rising media executives (particularly in the film
industry) were all in their late 20s or early 30s. They not only
displaced the older set, but actually actively sought to remove them
from positions of responsibility. The assumption was that the geezers
simply did not know what appealed to the masses because their mindset
was, well, still back in 1964--or so the story went. Can't really point
in a specific direction on this one, but looking through the archives of
the major newspapers on the Eastern Seaboard for pieces on the culture
clashes in Hollywood should reveal at least a couple of examples (of
course, this is the dreaded media examples, so they don't qualify--but
since ). One particular story that I recall was about script writers for
TV shows getting progressively younger and I am certain the author--or
one of his subjects--used the phrase.

The final bit is more speculative, but more easily verifiable. I have a
distinct suspicion that the phrase made an appearance in one of the
Beatles documentaries (I have no idea which one might have uttered it).
Since this is a finite set, it can be verified. It appears I am not
alone in this observation:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=486224&mesg_id=486281

The real question would be whether this quip appeared *after* 1964.
[added] In fact, there does appear to be a cleaner reference, with a
bonus snowclone:

 >>However, it does prompt the question of whether these dates are fixed
or whether they are on the move. Indeed, is 40 the new 30?
 >>In 1968, John Lennon at the age of 28, said: "Don't trust anyone over
30." He thought you were middle-aged at 31, almost 40 years ago.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22475163-5000117,00.html

I will pretend that this is definitive, even though it does not specify
the circumstances of the quotation.

On a different note,

Keyes had the Weinberg reference on his website as early as 2000
(incidentally when the CRF reference appeared as well, although the
latter described the episode differently).

http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0010C&L=MEDLIB-L&D=0&P=11558

But a letter to NYT--which goes back at least as far as 1988--corrected
the attribution of the phrase to Jerry Rubin, who used it quite
frequently--even *after* he turned 30. According to the letter, the
credit should go to "Jack Weinberger". (Wiki on Rubin got it right, by
the way.)

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/10/opinion/l-before-jerry-rubin-603488.html

Other attributions are to Mario Savio--which would be hard to
distinguish from Weinberg (appears to be the correct name, given
multiple unrelated sources--see below), as they spent a lot of time in
the same place with the same groups and Weinberg did mention "the
movement" as his source.

Here's another hit that merges a couple of snowclones (I am sure, to
Arnold's liking):

 >>Likewise exceptional is Jack Weinberg's long commitment to pragmatic
social activism, from campus free-speech issues at Berkeley to union
organising in Detroit - and his apparent return to it now after a period
of disenchantment. Weinberg extemporaneously coined the phrase "don't
trust anyone over 30", and he was a prime mover of the freedom-of-speech
rights that now prevail at most American colleges and universities.
Nonetheless, when directly questioned about this legacy, he remarked:
"Yeah, that and ten cents will get me a cup of coffee - or maybe 35
cents now."
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=165261&sectioncode=22

"That and X cents..." was discussed here a couple of months ago. The
paragraph appeared in a review of _Camelot to Kent State_ by Joan and
Robert Morrison (2001). Not surprisingly the title was "When you didn't
trust anyone over thirty".

I clearly have too much time on my hands.

    VS-)

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> ...
> 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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