another query about formulas/quotes

[Garson O'Toole]

Arnold and Charlie: Thanks for sharing this. Below is a link to a
Google "snippet cite" that may be worth examining. The GB date is
1961, but the book has many editions under different publishers, e.g.,
a 1939 edition with Scribner's. In this variant of the modern proverb
"the man" is used instead of "you".

Cite: Circa 1961 (earlier edition 1939), "A First Book in Geography:
Man in nature: America Before the Days of the White Men" by Carl
Sauer, GB Page 80, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. (Google Books
snippet view; Not verified on paper; Data may be inaccurate)

The Eskimo like the warm fur, and the meat and fat of the bear, and so
usually, the man gets the bear. But sometimes the bear gets the man.

http://books.google.com/books?id=lIHNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bear+gets%22#search_anchor

The words may be in the 1961 edition and/or an earlier edition. The
1939 edition is apparently in the GB archive as a "no preview" book. I
would try to verify this cite on paper, but none of the nearby
libraries have it. Hope it is helpful to you and not misleading.

Garson


On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 8:42 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: another query about formulas/quotes
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For two of the formulaic expressions, our "modern proverbs" file has the following:
>
> Sometimes (Some days) you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.  1970 _Florence [AL] Times - Tri Cities Daily_ 8 July:  "'Like they say in South Carolina, where I'm from,' [Dick] Dietz, a native of Greenville, said in summation, 'some days the bear gets you and some days you get the bear.'"  1975  _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_ 4 Jun.:  "And Larry Liprando . . . shot a booming 79-73-152.  'Sometimes you get the bear,' he sighed, 'and sometimes the bear gets you.'"
>
> Sometimes (Some days) you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug (bird).  1981  _Choices_ (motion picture, written by Jon Stevnes):  Pops the bartender (played by Pat Buttram) addresses the main character, a despondent and rebellious teenager:  "Just a word of advice:  Life is funny.  Sometimes you're the bug, and sometimes you're the windshield."  1986  William Mastrosimone, _The Woolgatherer_ (Garden City NY:  Nelson Doubleday) 56:  "You really want to help the guy, but why should you?  Hey, sometimes you're the bird, and sometimes you're the windshield.  Today, you get to be the bird."  1988  Terry L. Paulson, _They Shoot Managers, Don’t They_ (Santa Monica CA:  Lee Canter) 23:  "As one manager so aptly expressed, 'Some days you’re the bug, and some days you’re the windshield.'  Everyone has those days."
>
> --Charlie
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
> Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 3:30 PM
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:56 AM -0700 7/25/10, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/bear-music/
>>
>>on "some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you" (in a
>>number of variants).
>>
>>arnold
>>
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>
> And, speaking of musical renditions, there's the related observation:
>
> "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug." (as in
> the song by Dire Straits)
> (Continues in the same vein: "Sometimes you're the Louisville
> Slugger, sometimes you're the ball".  But I've always thought the
> windshield/bug scenario was especially vivid.)
>
> Then there are the preference statements:
>
> I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
> Yes I would.
> If I only could,
> I surely would.
> (Paul Simon, El Condor Pasa)
>
> Not quite the same, but there is an implication that one is sometimes
> the hammer/windshield and sometimes the nail/bug.  (But then again,
> getting nailed in this situation is not that different from getting
> hammered.)
>
> LH
>
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