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

[Wilson Gray]

Don't know why I said that! I've never participated in a rap session
in my life. Hence, I have *no* idea what one was like. I've only heard
the term and known a couple of people who participated in them.
Indeed, I now recall that, during the time that "rap session" was hip,
I essentially despised the phrase as a corruption on the true meaning
of the word, "rap."

-Wilson

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 6:37 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..."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, preternaturally indirectly maybe....
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 4:32 PM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Anon. quote: "Any day above ground..."
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> 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=3D-tMBAAAAYAAJ&q=3D%22day+above%22#v=3Ds=
> nippet&q=3D%22day%20above%22&f=3Dfalse
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 1:31 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > 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 N=
> BC
>> >> 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 go=
> od
>> >>> 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
>> > =96=96=96
>> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint=
>  to
>> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> > =96Mark Twain
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "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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