the thing of it is...

[Jonathan Lighter]

Bret Harte uses it in his poem "Dow's Flat (1856)," published in June, 1870.

JL

On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: the thing of it is...
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Are you familiar with the variant, "The thing about it is...," common
> in East TX since at least the '30's? My last living aunt, born 1917,
> has been using this variant for as long as I've been able to
> understand English.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 3:56 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      the thing of it is...
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > How old is this expression? I've always associated it with my teenage
> years
> > in the sixties, so I was surprised recently to find Eloise, the sassy
> young
> > heroine of Kay Thompson's 1955 classic children's book (illustrated by
> > Hilary Knight), saying "The thing of it is..."
> >
> > It's the title of a 1967 novel by William Goldman (
> > http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/william-goldman/thing-of-it-is.htm).
> > It's not in OED Online.
> >
> > m a m
> >
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>
>
> --
> -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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