"Throw the Bums Out"

[Jonathan Lighter]

You mean the decades-long existence of the cliche' phrase had no influence
on its political use?

Surely you jest.

I don't see any direct connection with "Dem Bums" either, BTW.

Also BTW: if frequent political usage is less than 15 years old, it wouldn't
surprise me either.  But I immediately recognized the pluralized phrase as
alluding to the baseball cliche'.

JL

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 11:20 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Throw the Bums Out"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:14 AM -0400 5/6/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Since childhood I've associated "Throw the bum [sic] out!" especially with
> >baseball.
>
> I first thought of baseball too, and in particular its connection
> with "Dem Bums" (Brooklyn Dodgers), but then it occurred to me that
> "Throw the bum out" in such contexts is quite different from the
> expression of anti-incumbent fervor I'm guessing Fred is trying to
> track down.
>
> LH
>
> >Confirmation:
> >
> >
> >1941 Richards Vidmer, N.Y. Herald Tribune, in _Wisconsin State Journal_
> >(Oct. 10) 20: The World Series can be summede [sic] up by a story that
> >circulated in the press box as the scene shifted to Ebbetts Field....
> >
> >A stranger wandered into a Brooklyn bar feeling no pain and good will
> toward
> >all....
> >
> >Then with a magnificent gesture he lifted his glass and with a beaming
> >smile, in a loud voice, he said:
> >
> >"May the best team win."
> >
> >Whereupon the mob leaped upon him with snarls of anger and shouts of
> "T'row
> >de bum out!" And when he woke up in the hospital he realized that even
> >Brooklyn had no doubts about which was the better team.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >IIRC, the phrase was more typically applied to opposing players.
> >
> >GB indicates that the Communist _Daily Worker_ ran an anti-McCarthy
> >editorial in 1954 under the headline, "Throw the Bum Out!"
> >
> >No complete or direct view of a source is offered.
> >
> >As a political byword, "Throw the bums out!" sounds to me like something
> >from only [sic!] the last fifteen or twenty years.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:25 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu
> >wrote:
> >
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> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      "Throw the Bums Out"
> >>
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  Someone asked me today about the origin of the phrase "throw the bums
> out."
> >>   This is an important political expression, but in a few minutes of
> research
> >>  I don't see it in The Yale Book of Quotations or the OED or Safire's
> >>  Political Dictionary.  I haven't yet run it through the databases.  Is
> >>  anyone able to supply any information about early uses?
> >>
> >>  Fred Shapiro
> >>
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