lightning in a bottle

[Garson O'Toole]

Baseball manager Leo Durocher (Leo the Lip) helped to popularize the
phrase according to a October 6, 1941 report. It was "one of
Durocher's pet expressions" according to the New York Times. More
details when I have a bit more time.

On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 7:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      lightning in a bottle
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>
> Not in OED.
>
> CNN and others claim that the Democrats are "hoping to catch lightning in a
> bottle" by surviving the prophesized [sic] annihilation tomorrow.
>
> Early exx. on GB seem to refer exclusively and literally to Benjamin
> Franklin's famous kite experiment.  What's a little surpising
> is that the metaphorical phrase, meaning to "do the impossible; beat
> tremendous odds; make a brilliant and unlikely success, etc." took so long
> to become proverbial.
>
> I haven't been exhaustive, but the earliest GB cite for "caught..." rather
> than "catch..." doesn't occur till 1946:
>
> 1946 Bob Broeg & Robert Burrill _Don't Bring That Up!_  [N.Y.: A.S. Barnes]
> 243: Garrulous Leo Durocher, to whom words for once came hard, mumbled
> repeatedly, "We caught lightning in a bottle, lightning in a bottle," an
> expression gleaned from the poker table and one that vaguely meant the
> explosive effect of a [snippet ends].
>
> Had they thought the phrase well known, the authors wouldn't have associated
> it with "the poker table."
>
> Incredibly to me, NewspaperArchive gives only three exx. of "lightning in a
> bottle," the earliest in 1961.  Chronicling America gives no results at all.
>
> There are thousands and thousands of recent Google hits.
>
> Not to be confised with _bottled lightning_, 'powerful alcoholic beverage.'
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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