long walk ...

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is a close variant in 1943: long walk on a short dock.

1943 May 30 - The Milwaukee Journal
Radio? They Do It With Mirrors!
No wonder he bankrolled on ideas that would have made a less seasoned
showman want to take a long walk on a short dock.

In the cite below the phrase is being collected by a proto-quotographer.

1945 July 6 - Cleveland Plain Dealer - Page 8
Here are Word-Slams From Book Joey Adams, Master of Squelch, Is
Compiling by W. Ward Marsh
"Why don't you take a nice long walk on a short pier?"

Garson

On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: long walk ...
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Google Books claims 1947 in Nelson Algren, _The Neon Wilderness_,
> page 31 (snippet).  Harvard says 1947 is first edition.
>
> "Try taking a long walk on a short pier one of these days."
>
> Joel
>
> At 5/17/2010 09:05 AM, David Barnhart wrote:
>>Yesterday, in the presence of a "friend" I suggested was contemplating a
>>long walk.  He said "on a short pier."  The earliest quote I've found for
>>that is 1952.  Not all my resources are handy here.  Does anyone have
>>earlier evidence?
>>
>>
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>David
>>
>>
>>
>>Barnhart at highlands.com
>>
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