lightning in a bottle (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Nov 1 15:00:09 UTC 2010

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

_New Orleans Times-Picayune_ 8/31/1923 p 17 col 4
"We are trying to catch lightning in a bottle to beat the team out of
the pennant."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Garson O'Toole
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 9:26 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: lightning in a bottle
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: lightning in a bottle
>
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> -
>
> Thanks to Jon for pointing to this electrifying expression. Here are
> selected examples of "catch lightning in a bottle" as a figure of
> speech. All the citations are in the sports domain, but the first in
> 1936 is in boxing and the other two are from baseball. In 1941 the
> expression appears in a subhead in the New York Times which might have
> increased its popularity. I do not think these are the earliest cites
> because I conducted a superficial search. (Also, watch for OCR errors
> and retyping errors.)
>
> In 1936 writing in a newspaper column called "The Sports Parade" the
> author Braven Dyer comments on a boxing match between Johnny Pacek and
> Art Lasky.
>
> Cite: 1936 Jun 30, Los Angeles Times, The Sports Parade by Braven
> Dyer, Page A11, Los Angeles, California. (ProQuest)
>
> Art's only hope, as I see it, is to connect with a sleep producer
> early. And he'll find tagging Pacek's chin something like trying to
> catch lightning in a bottle.
>
>
> In 1941 an article in the New York Times includes the expression in a
> subtitle immediately below the main title of an article. The saying
> also appears in the article where it is attributed to baseball manager
> Leo Durocher whose team just lost to a rival, the Yankees:
>
> Cite: 1941 Oct 6, New York Times, "Dodgers Stress Luck of Rivals:
> Yanks Could 'Catch Lightning in a Bottle,' Durocher Remarks After
> Game" by Roscoe McGowen, Page 21, New York, New York. (ProQuest)
>
> One of Durocher's pet expressions for someone who expects miracles is:
> "What're you tryin' to do-catch lightning in a bottle?"
>
> Bottle Tells the Story
>
> He had this in mind when, just before he walked out of the clubhouse
> yesterday he turned to a group of reporters and, pointing to an empty
> beer bottle near his locker, said: "You know what that game today was,
> don't you?"
>
>
> Cite: 1941 October 6, Ottawa Citizen, Mickey Owen is Nearly in Tears
> as Dodgers March into Clubhouse, Page 11, Column 7, Ottawa, Ontario,
> Canada. (Google News archive)
>
> Larry MacPhail, the club president, walked around patting every player
> on the back. "In poker there's a saying, when you try to do something
> the hard way, like filling an inside straight, that you're trying to
> catch lightning in a bottle," Larry told the players.
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
--------------------
> ---
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: lightning in a bottle
> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> ---
> >
> > 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:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
-------------------
> ----
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      lightning in a bottle
> >>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> ----
> >>
> >> 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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> >>
> >
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> >
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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