Anon. quote: "Any day above ground..."

[Garson O'Toole]

Tom Snyder's grandmother and the bumper sticker makers may have been
preternaturally influenced by the following poem, "Life is a Ladder",
from October 1895:

Life is called a ladder
Which we climb round by round,
We should step up higher,
Each day above the ground.

Each noble deed we do,
Each kind word we say,
Each trouble we pass through,
Is a step upon the way.

Citation: Primary Education, Volume 3, Page 290, Educational Pub. Co., 1895.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-tMBAAAAYAAJ&q=%22day+above%22#v=snippet&q=%22day%20above%22&f=false

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 1:31 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Anon. quote: "Any day above ground..."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> That is, Snyder "conducted" what was known in olden times as "a rap session."
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Anon. quote: "Any day above ground..."
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> NewspaperArchive reveals:
>>
>> 1973 _The Transcript_ (North Adams, Mass.) (Sept. 29) TV Guide 9:  I guess I
>> can attribute my ability to enjoy life to the philosophy of my grandmother:
>> "Each day above ground is a good day."
>>
>> Speaker?  Tom Snyder, "newsman, interviewer, and host, who will be rapping
>> with persons from 1 to 2 a.m. each Tuesday through Friday as host of NBC
>> Television Network's new talk show, 'Tomorrow,' premiering Oct. 26..."
>>
>> ("Rapping with persons," not "rapping to the beat.")
>>
>> JL
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Anon. quote: "Any day above ground..."
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Google finds many thousands of refs. to "Any day above ground is a good
>>> day."
>>>
>>> GB turns up a 1986 ex. citing a bumper sticker.  I don't recall the
>>> sticker,
>>> but that's around the time I began to say it.
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> --
>>> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>>> Platypus"
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>> Platypus"
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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