"thousand-yard stare" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

My WAG is reinvention. I read the story back in the '50's and I
remember nothing about it except that one phrase and I remember that
only because of prior familiarity with that unforgettable, so-called
"thousand-yard stare" facial expression. I once saw a photo of
captured German submariners. (Back During The War, there was a
sea-dwelling superhero named "SubMARiner" and the crew of a submarine
were also subMARiners. Nowadays, "submaRINer" appears to have become
the norm.) They all had the stare, though nothing in the largest
submarine is more than a few feet away.

-Wilson

On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 7:20 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "thousand-yard stare" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "thousand-parsec stare" gets about 9 rgh, all fairly recent I think. Looks
> like it's gotten well established in sf. Of course it could easily have bee=
> n
> independently reinvented.
>
> m a m
>
> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> FWIW, at one time, "thousand-yard stare" was so hip that a
>> science-fiction author whose name I can no longer recall used it in
>> the modified form, "thousand-parsec stare" in a story whose title I
>> can no longer recall in an sf mag whose name I can no longer recall.
>>
>> Photos of the thousand-yard stare by David Douglas Duncan
>>
>> http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/photography/holdings/
>>
>> http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0405/ddd01.html
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:56 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:      Re: "thousand-yard stare" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >
>> > The appearance - in big print - in Harper's must have helped assure the
>> > term's permamence.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:31 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
>> > Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>> >
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> >> Subject:      Re: "thousand-yard stare" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >>
>> >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> >> Caveats: NONE
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> > > -----------------------
>> >> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> >> > > Subject:      "thousand-yard stare"
>> >> > >
>> >> > >
>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> > ----------
>> >> > >
>> >> > > Should the OED add "thousand-yard stare"?  Wikipedia's article of
>> >> > > that name dates it to the title of a Life Magazine painting in 194=
> 4
>> >> > > (although that used "2,000").  Google Books gives about 57 results
>> >> > > before 1951, all snippets, and some journals and so needing
>> >> > verification.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Wikipedia was wrong (surprise!).  Tom Lea's painting appears in the Ju=
> ne
>> >> 11 1945 issue of Life:
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=3D_EkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=3DPA61&dq=3D%22tom%20=
> lea%2
>> >> 2&as_pt=3DMAGAZINES&pg=3DPA65#v=3Donepage&q=3D%22tom%20lea%22&f=3Dfals=
> e
>> >>
>> >> and is not titled there.   I've tried to straighten up the wiki a
>> >> little, but it would take a bigger re-write than I will do to really f=
> ix
>> >> it.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Legit 1944 cites:
>> >>
>> >> [no author given; interview with George E. Jones, UP war correspondent=
> ]
>> >> "War Reporter Home to Rest,"_Oregonian_ [Portland OR] 4/6/1944 p 9 col=
>  2
>> >> "And they have that 'thousand-yard stare' a look of utter fatigue, as =
> if
>> >> somebody had placed a film over their eyes."
>> >>
>> >> Hansford Martin, "Thousand-yard stare"  [short story] _Harper's
>> >> Magazine_ v. 189 (November 1944) p. 523-8
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> >> Caveats: NONE
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=E2=80=93=E2=80=93a strange=
>  complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> =E2=80=93Mark Twain
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
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> 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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