Modern Proverb: Life is just one damn thing after another (slight antedating 1909 July 20)

Fri Mar 19 22:14:11 UTC 2010

It should be noted that the attestation in _The Practical Printer_ (Jul. 1909) is an instance of what Wolfgang Mieder has termed an "anti-proverb"--a parody or ironic contextualization of a proverb. In the present case, the saying occurs in an ad for a process of reporducing book-length text (somehow) by the use of carbon paper--"one after another." Of course, an anti-proverb constitutes evidence that the proverb itself is expected to be known to readers, who can then appreciate the irony.

--Charlie

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:05:18 -0400
>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of "Garson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>)
>Subject: Modern Proverb: Life is just one damn thing after another (slight antedating 1909 July 20)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Life is just one damned thing after another.
>
>This quote appears in the online Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (also
>Modern and Concise). A citation is given to the writer Elbert Hubbard
>in the periodical Philistine dated December 1909. The copy of the
>December issue of Philistine in Google Books contains the phrase with
>a minor difference: Life is just one damn thing after another. I was
>unable to find the phrase with "damned" in the December issue.
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=IhrZAAAAMAAJ&q=damn#v=snippet&
>
>The Yale Book of Quotations contains a citation for the phrase "Life
>is just one darn thing after another" dated 1909 July 22 in the
>Washington Post along with the comment that the cite "indicates that
>the expression predated Hubbard."
>
>Immediately below are three cites: a newspaper article published two
>days earlier on 1909 July 20, an advertisement in the July issue of a
>monthly periodical called "The Practical Printer", and a book
>published in 1909. In the book the phrase is presented as a motto on a
>wall.
>
>Citation: 1909 July 20, Anaconda Standard, Page 6, Column 3, Anaconda,
>Montana. (NewspaperArchive)
>
>After the Thaw inquiry, the Sutton investigation. As One pessimistic
>philosopher puts it: "Life is just one damn thing after another."
>
>
>Citation: 1909 July, The Practical Printer, Advertisement title, Page
>107, Vol 11, No. 7, Inland Type Foundry, Saint Louis. (Google Books
>full view)
>
>"LIFE IS ONE DARN THING AFTER ANOTHER"
>Manifold books are here to stay. The printer may as well get busy and
>learn how to handle the profitable line.
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=lJHPAAAAMAAJ&q=darn#v=snippet&q=darn&f=false
>
>
>Citation: 1909, The Concentrations of Bee by Lilian Bell, Page 241,
>Grosset & Dunlap, New York. (Google Books full view)
>
>"Bob has a motto on his wall which says 'Life is just one damned thing
>after another!'" said Jimmie. But I refused to smile. I was too
>distinctly annoyed.
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=whQYAAAAYAAJ&q=damned+thing#v=snippet&
>
>
>After July 1909 I found several more citations in 1909. Also there are
>some matching items in the Google Books database in snippet view mode
>with uncertain dates. This item may have a 1909 publication date.
>
>Citation: Circa 1909???, History of the Class of 1903, Yale College,
>Page 175, Yale University. (Google Books snippet view only)
>
>Since then the daily round has continued in much the same manner as
>formerly, for, after all, 'Life is only one damned thing after
>another.' My title has been changed and now I am called 'betterment
>recorder.'
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=BHUWAAAAIAAJ&q=damned#search_anchor
>
>
>The word darn and the term d--n are sometimes substituted for damn.
>The power of the word to shock listeners is recorded in the following
>cite which also shows the proliferation of the phrase.
>
>Citation: 1909 October 24, San Antonio Light and Gazette, Gambler's
>Motto His Pulpit Theme, Page 26 (NewspaperArchive numbering), San
>Antonio, Texas.  (NewspaperArchive)
>
>"Life is just one damn thing after another," said the Rev. Dr. Percy
>S. Grant, rector of the Church of the Ascension, Fifth avenue and
>Tenth street, as a preface to a talk yesterday. Members of the
>congregation sat bolt upright, and some gasped in decorous
>astonishment. A deaf woman in the front pew took down her black
>trumpet from her right ear and refused to listen. Afterward curiosity
>overcame her and the trumpet went up again.
>Dr. Grant had received a postal card with the words quoted above early
>in the week, and the cynical sentiment of the missive so aroused his
>indignation that the rector preached against its acceptance in his
>sermon.
>
>
>The following 1910 citation is the first attribution that I found. But
>who is Bruce Calvert?
>
>Citation: 1910 March, Wood Craft, Page 167, Column 2, The Gardner
>Publishing Co., Cleveland. (Hathi Trust full view)
>
>"I would like to have my shop free from accident of every kind, both
>to operators and to stock, but I don't suppose that state of things
>will be actually brought to pass. It's too much like a dream of the
>next world to find something in this one which is not like Bruce
>Calvert's idea of life which he says is: 'Just one damned thing after
>another.'"
>
>http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ptsearch?id=mdp.39015010724832&q1=damned
>Permanent Hathi URL:
>http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015010724832
>
>
>The terms substituted for damn in the following 1910 citation are entertaining.
>
>Citation: 1910 October 15, The National Provisioner, Chicago Section,
>Page 34, Food Trade Publishing Co., New York. (Google Books full view)
>
>It is better to be a "has been" than a "never was," says Uncle Joseph,
>and adds "What is life, anyway, but one doggoned, golbinged, dodrotted
>thing after another !!!***???!!!???!! anyhow?"
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=BfXmAAAAMAAJ&q=golbinged#v=snippet&
>
>Garson O'Toole
>
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