Quote: everybody talks about the weather (1897) (antedating attrib Charles Dudley Warner 1901, attrib Mark Twain 1915)

[Garson O'Toole]

Stephen Goranson wrote
>>
>> Thanks. Here's a 1912 attribution (confirmed in paper):
>>
>> History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state, Volume 5
>> By Emilius Oviatt Randall, Daniel Joseph Ryan p. 1912
>>
>> ... and the little that is accomplished compared with that which is talked
>> about, suggest Mark Twain's discovery that "people are always talking
>> about the
>> weather, but nobody does anything."
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=vA8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA172&dq=the-weather+does-anything+talk+OR+talks+OR+talking+OR+talked&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1888&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1912&as_brr=0&cd=3#v=onepage&q=the-weather%20does-anything%20talk%20OR%20talks%20OR%20talking%20OR%20talked&f=false
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
> 1910 attribution to Twain:
>
> NY Times Jun 27, 1910 p. 10
> The Financial Situation
> The Markets of Europe
> ....
> It must be watched, of course, but it is well to remember that Nature
> has a way
> of her own in adjusting these matters, and the position of those dependent on
> her benevolence is exactly described by the late Mark Twain when he said that
> he heard a great deal of complaint about the weather, but no one seemed to do
> anything about it.
>
> Stephen
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

Marvelous! Thanks Stephen for finding these cites. It is fun to post
to this list knowing that one of the best quote tracers on the planet
might respond.
Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org